LEFT-CENTER BIAS
These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources.
- Overall, we rate the Internet Archive as Left-Center biased based on more reliance on sources that favor the left. We also rate them as Mostly Factual rather than High due to the use of some sources that are rated Mixed for factual reporting.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
The Internet Archive (IA) is an American non-profit digital library founded on May 10, 1996, by Brewster Kahle. It offers free access to digitized materials, including websites, software applications, music, audiovisual, and print materials. The IA’s mission is to provide “universal access to all knowledge.” The IA allows the public to upload and download digital materials, but most of its data is collected automatically by web crawlers. Its web archive, the Wayback Machine, contains hundreds of billions of web captures. The IA also oversees numerous book digitization projects, among other endeavors.
Read our profile on the United States media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
The IA operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States. Its funding comes from various sources, including revenue from web crawling services, partnerships, grants, donations, and the Kahle-Austin Foundation. In 2019, the IA had an annual budget of $36 million. The IA also engages in periodic fundraising campaigns.
Analysis / Bias
The Internet Archive primarily functions as a digital library and web archiving service. Its content, by nature, is diverse and extensive, covering a vast array of topics and sources. The IA itself does not produce original content that would indicate a political or ideological bias. Instead, it archives content from across the web, which can encompass a broad spectrum of viewpoints.
The IA’s blog provides updates and stories about its projects, technology, and collaborations, reflecting its mission and activities rather than any political or ideological stance. Similarly, the “News Stories” section on its website primarily features articles and reports about the Internet Archive itself from various external media sources. However, we did find a bias in the sources they rely on as more favor the left, such as Rolling Stone, Louisiana Illuminator, Daily Dot, and Wired. We also found they sometimes rely on factually mixed sources like the Daily Caller and The Conservative Woman.
In general, the Internet Archive does not produce opinion pieces, but it publishes opinionated news stories about itself. While they rely on a wide range of sources, we calculate that more favor the left, and most are factual.
Failed Fact Checks
- The Internet Archive is often used by Fact-Checkers.
Overall, we rate the Internet Archive as Left-Center biased based on more reliance on sources that favor the left. We also rate them as Mostly Factual rather than High due to the use of some sources that are rated Mixed for factual reporting. (D. Van Zandt 01/13/2024)
Source: https://archive.org/
Last Updated on January 13, 2024 by Media Bias Fact Check
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Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources