SmartNews – Bias and Credibility

These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appealing to emotion or stereotypes).  The reporting is factual and usually sourced.  These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased Sources.

• Overall, we rate SmartNews Least biased based on news curation from both the right and the left, though a total count reveals slightly more from the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to some sources failing fact checks in the past.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: Japan
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 2012 and based in Tokyo, Japan, SmartNews is a news curation application for Android and iPhone (IOS). According to their about page, the mission of SmartNews is “to discover and deliver quality stories to the world.” They further state, “News should be impartial, trending and trustworthy. Our algorithms evaluate millions of articles, social signals, and human interactions to deliver the top 0.01% of stories that matter most, right now.”

Read our profiles on Japan’s media and government

Funded by / Ownership

SmartNews is funded through in-app advertising and is owned by SmartNews, Inc.

Analysis / Bias

In review, SmartNews gathers news from a wide range of sources such as CNN on the left and Fox News on the right. They also source content from numerous Left-Center, Right-Center, and Least Biased sources such as Reuters. Therefore, the bias of the individual story a person reads is determined by the source they curate from. Since SmartNews publishes content from both sides, we consider them a least biased source. We do, however, rate them Mixed for factual reporting because some of the sources they curate have Mixed factual ratings themselves. Again, this is due to the individual sources and not SmartNews. This is a handy app for keeping up with a wide variety of news.

Overall, we rate SmartNews Least biased based on news curation from both the right and the left, though a total count reveals slightly more from the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to some sources failing fact checks in the past. (D. Van Zandt 9/7/2017) Updated (08/08/2023)

Source: https://www.smartnews.com/en/