Right Wing Watch – 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 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 Right Wing Watch Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Right Wing Watch keeps track of various organizations, but the groups they track do tend to be conservative extremists in one regard or another. According to their about page, “Right Wing Watch is a project of People For the American Way (PFAW) dedicated to monitoring and exposing the activities and rhetoric of right-wing activists and organizations to expose their extreme agenda.” Adele M. Stan is the research director.

On June 28, 2021, it was revealed that Right Wing Watch’s YouTube channel had been permanently suspended and deleted for community Guidelines violations. While we don’t have the details, we have seen this before where Google/Youtube cannot distinguish a source exposing and debunking conspiracy theories. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved as Right Wing Watch provides a valuable service for fact-checkers.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Right Wing Watch is a People For the American Way (PFAW) project, a progressive advocacy group in the United States. “Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear. PFAW was founded in opposition to the publicized agenda of the Moral Majority, a formerly prominent and influential American political organization associated with the Christian right.” Funding is derived from donations to the People For the American Way.

Analysis / Bias

In review, the mission of Right Wing Watch is to “expose the activities and rhetoric of right-wing activists and organizations to expose their extreme agenda.” They frequently report on right-wing conspiracy theories such as this: This GOP Challenger to Ilhan Omar ‘100%’ Stands with QAnon. This story is properly sourced to the left-leaning sources The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone. Right Wing Watch also frequently reports negatively on the Trump administration: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling White Nationalist Jared Taylor’s Dreams? This story is also properly sourced to the Guardian and Vanity Fair. Finally, they report on the Alt-Right and White Nationalism, such as this: Infowars is Working to Sanitize the White Nationalist Group Formerly Known as Identity Evropa. In general, story selection always favors the left and is properly sourced.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years. In fact, Right Wing Watch is frequently used as a reliable source for IFCN fact-checkers.

Overall, we rate Right Wing Watch Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record. (5/15/2016) Update (D. Van Zandt 09/28/2023)

Source: https://www.rightwingwatch.org/