Daily Source Bias Check: The American Independent

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation.  They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate The American Independent Left biased based on story selection that always favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to a lack of transparency with funding and ownership.

Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 48/180

History

The American Independent Institute is a nonprofit organization which funds liberal investigative journalism efforts. According to the organization, its aim is to support journalism which exposes “the nexus of conservative power in Washington.” The current institute, started by David Brock in 2014, is a relaunch of the former state-based digital news-gathering network known as the American Independent News Network. The journalists funded by The American Independent Institute have been published in mostly large left wing media outlets such as Alternet, Huffington Post, The Nation and Washington Monthly. 

According to their about page “The American Independent is the No. 1 digital platform for progressive news, reaching millions of people each month. We strive to report with honesty and integrity, shining a light on those in power, and covering the progressive politics movement.”

Read our profile on United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The American Independent lacks transparency when it comes to disclosing ownership. The only clue to ownership is this written at the bottom of the website: True Blue Media LLC. The website also fails to disclose that Democratic political operative David Brock owns an 80% share. David Brock also controls Media Matters for America and the super PAC American Bridge 21^st Century, which focuses on “tracking” Republican candidates. The American Independent also does not disclose donors. Revenue is derived through advertising and donations.

Analysis / Bias

In review, the American Independent publishes original news stories with moderately loaded language such as this: Trump silent as his allies attack Pete Buttigieg for being gay. This story is properly sourced to the Washington Post and Daily Beast. The website also republishes news content from the Associated Press.

Editorially, The American Independent and all of David Brock’s properties heavily supported Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. They also frequently reported negatively on Progressive candidate Bernie Sanders. However, in 2020 they do not appear to be picking a single candidate, but rather are focused on discrediting Donald Trump such as this Trump claims he saved the Philippines from ISIS. He didn’t. In general, news reporting is highly biased in favor of the left and reasonably sourced to credible media outlets.

A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check.

Overall, we rate The American Independent Left biased based on story selection that always favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to a lack of transparency with funding and ownership.  (D. Van Zandt 8/5/2017) Updated (2/16/2020)

Source: https://americanindependent.com/