New Yorker – Bias and Credibility

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 an appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate The New Yorker Left Biased based on story selection and editorial position that favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Magazine
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

The New Yorker Magazine was founded in 1925 by Harold Ross and his wife, Jane Grant, and Raoul Fleischmann backed them. The magazine initially focused on social and cultural life in New York City; however, it later transformed into publishing short stories, cartoons, satire, poetry, essays, art reviews, fiction, and in-depth journalism. The New Yorker has had many famous contributors, including Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, James Thurber, Sidney J. Perelman, Janet Flanner, Wolcott Gibbs, and St. Clair McKelway.

The New Yorker is divided into sections such as News, Culture, Books, BusinessTech, Humor, Cartoons, Magazine, and more.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The New Yorker is published by Condé Nast Inc. and is a subsidiary of Advance Publications. S.I. Newhouse acquired The New Yorker in 1985 for “$200 a share for the magazine’s common stock, an investment of about $142 million.” The Newhouse family owns Advance Publications, and currently, the third and fourth generations of the Newhouse family are involved in the management. For details about the Newhouse family, click here. The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ), Architectural Digest (AD), Condé Nast Traveler, and Wired are all published by Conde Nast Inc. 

Advertising, subscriptions, and newsstand sales fund the magazine. The New Yorker also has an online store where cartoons, iconic magazine covers, and more can be purchased.

Analysis / Bias

The New York Times reports that ”The Conde Nast philosophy, according to Newhouse, is to let the editors run free.”

In review, The New Yorker uses strong emotionally loaded headlines such as “Don’t Underestimate Elizabeth Warren and Her Populist Message” and “Is Fraud Part of the Trump Organization’s Business Model?” The New Yorker also publishes satirical articles from satirist Andy Borowitz through his Borowitz Report, such as “Trump Offers to Station Pence at Border with Binoculars in Lieu of Wall.” The Borowitz Report always favors the left and mocks the right. Further, The New Yorker provides original, in-depth journalistic reporting such as this: Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse. The result of this investigation led to the Attorney General resigning just hours after the New Yorker published the story. In general, both wording and story selection tends to favor the left mostly.

Regarding sourcing, they typically utilize credible sources such as The New York Times, Boston.com, New Republic, Vox, Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, and the Boston Globe.

Editorially, The New Yorker usually endorses Democrats, such as Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election.

A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 77% of the New Yorker’s audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 16% Mixed, and 6% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more liberal audience strongly prefers the New Yorker.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate The New Yorker Left Biased based on story selection and editorial position that favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (5/13/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 02/21/2024)

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/