Palmer Report – Bias and Credibility

Founded in 2016, The Palmer Report is a liberal news and opinion blog/website created by Bill Palmer, the former writer and owner of Daily News Bin. According to their about page, the “Palmer Report has built a growing and loyal audience based on the timeliness and accuracy of our reporting. At times we’ve been so early to a story that we’ve been questioned for it, only to be fully vindicated weeks or months later as the mainstream media has finally caught up to the story.”

The Palmer Report has a masthead and indicates that Bill Palmer is the Senior Editor.

In 2017, The Palmer Report negative articles criticizing Media Bias Fact Check. You can read them Here and Here.

In 2018, The Palmer Report also disagreed with NewsGuard’s rating.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The Palmer Report is owned by Bill Palmer and is funded through advertising and donations.

Analysis / Bias

The Palmer Report is typically well-sourced and usually points to credible sources.  However, there is a very strong liberal bias in reporting and story content.  The Palmer Report uses loaded words and sensational headlines that don’t always reflect the article’s content. An example headline is as follows: Donald Trump’s demented “Happy New Year” tweet is the worst thing you’ll read all year. The Palmer Report has been criticized by Slate for publishing misinformation. According to Snopes, Palmer Report also has false and unproven claims, which Mr. Palmer calls the National Enquirer.

From the well-respected Atlantic regarding fake news: “It’s more wish-fulfillment stuff. “Trump About to be Arrested!” Well, yeah, when’s that gonna happen? And we know it’s coming from the left because I know it’s coming from known players. Bill Palmer used to run the Daily News Bin, and it was basically a pro-Hillary Clinton “news site.” It was out there to counter misinformation. Which, okay, fair enough. But then he started to reinvent it as a news site, more and more, and he changed the name to the Palmer Report. The stuff that he puts out there, it’s nominally true. When you click on it, it’s some innocuous story [with an outlandish headline]. That is very harmful, I think.”

Failed Fact Checks

• https://www.snopes.com/jared-kushner-go-saudi-arabia-doesnt-extradition-treaty-us/
• https://www.snopes.com/russia-kompromat-jason-chaffetz/
• https://www.snopes.com/denis-voronenkov-paul-manafort/
• https://www.snopes.com/trump-staged-speechwriting-picture/

Additional Reviews

Dennis Kelly states: The Palmer Report (TPR) is a liberally biased news site/blog that deals more with confirmation bias than actual reporting. Confirmation bias generally consists of taking a set of facts, often unrelated, and building a web of conjecture around them to present a specific point of view instead of the facts. While confirmation bias may not be, technically, fake news, the sensational nature of this type of reporting often does more harm than good.

Mr. Palmer has been criticized for inaccurate reporting in his work by other fact and bias-checking sites, both for his work on Daily News Bin and on TPR, as evidenced by the entries on this list from Snopes, as well this article from The Atlantic. Although TPR does contain some factual content, the misleading and biased way in which it is presented earns TPR a Questionable rating. (D. Kelley 4/3/17)

Overall, we rate the Palmer Report Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that routinely favor the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to several failed fact checks. (11/25/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 12/20/2022)

Source: https://www.palmerreport.com