A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing of credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources. Questionable Reasoning: Imposter Site, Lack of Transparency, Propaganda
QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
The Iowa Star is a news and opinion website with a right-leaning bias in reporting. According to their about page, “The Iowa Star – launched in February 2023 – is the newest member of the Star News Digital Media family.” According to an investigation by Snopes, The Iowa Star is not a local newspaper but rather a front for “Tea Party-connected conservative activists: Michael Patrick Leahy and Christina Botteri.” Snopes details connections to conservative donors and PACS as well.
Read our profile on USA Media and Government.
Funded by / Ownership
The Iowa Star is a “Delaware-registered company, Star News Digital Media, Inc., whose explicit strategy is to target battleground states with conservative news.” Under this company are the Ohio Star, Michigan Star, Battlegroundstatenews.com, and Tennessee Star, which are essentially duplicates of the Minnesota Sun with local news. Revenue appears to be generated from advertising; however, Snopes explains how they are funded.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Iowa Star presents news with a conservative bias through story selection that usually favors the right. All articles are properly sourced and generally use credible mainstream sources. There is some use of loaded words within news stories, but not excessive.
Editorially, the Iowa Star has a strong right-leaning bias with frequent use of strong, emotionally loaded words that favor the right and denigrate the left, such as this Commentary: Americans Should Read the Fine Print on Biden’s Newest Border Enforcement Policy.
Although The Iowa Star is right-biased and generally factual, we cannot rate them High for factual reporting due to the source being exposed as a political activism website attempting to look like a local paper. For this reason, we rate them factually Mixed based on a lack of transparency and the promotion of propaganda.
Failed Fact Checks
- None in the Last 5 years
Overall, we rate The Iowa Star as Right biased and questionable based on a lack of transparency and acting as a propaganda imposter website through deceptive publishing tactics. (D. Van Zandt 03/06/2023)
Source: https://theiowastar.com/
Last Updated on March 6, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources
