The Atlantic – Bias and Credibility

These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias.  They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes.  These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources.

• Overall, we rate The Atlantic Left-Center Biased due to editorial positions, presidential endorsements, and story framing that generally favor liberal perspectives while still publishing criticism of Democrats and progressives. We rate The Atlantic High for factual reporting based on strong sourcing, award-winning journalism, transparency, and a clean fact-check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER (-3.3)
Factual Reporting: HIGH (1.0)
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Magazine
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

The Atlantic is an American magazine and digital publication founded in 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, as The Atlantic Monthly. Its founders created the magazine as a literary, cultural, and political publication with an anti-slavery mission and a commitment to publishing essays, literature, and commentary on major public issues. The Atlantic has been based in Washington, D.C., since 2006 and continues to publish long-form journalism, essays, cultural criticism, politics, technology, science, health, and international affairs.

Jeffrey Goldberg serves as editor-in-chief, and Nicholas Thompson serves as CEO. Under Goldberg’s editorship, The Atlantic has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes and received National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The Atlantic is published by The Atlantic Monthly Group. In 2017, Emerson Collective, the organization founded and led by Laurene Powell Jobs, acquired majority ownership of The Atlantic from Atlantic Media’s David G. Bradley, who retained a minority stake at the time of the sale. The acquisition included The Atlantic magazine, its digital properties, events business, and consulting services. The Atlantic is funded primarily through subscriptions, advertising, events, brand partnerships, licensing, and related digital media revenue. In 2024, The Atlantic announced that it had surpassed 1 million subscriptions and reached profitability.

Analysis / Bias

The Atlantic publishes in-depth reporting, essays, analysis, and opinion. News and feature reporting are generally well-sourced through documents, interviews, official records, court filings, expert analysis, and credible outside reporting. The Atlantic’s political coverage and editorial stance lean left-center, with frequent criticism of Donald Trump, right-wing populism, threats to democratic institutions, and conservative legal or cultural movements. Current examples include Trump Is Getting Tired of Losing Election Cases, which reports critically on Trump administration election-law setbacks; ‘Rush Project at Request of POTUS’, which reports on taxpayer-funded White House-related projects; and Europe Needs to Stop Appeasing Trump, which presents a critical foreign-policy analysis of European leaders’ approach to Trump.

The Atlantic also publishes articles that critique Democratic politicians and progressive politics, such as Something Is Happening in the Democratic Base and With Graham Platner, Democrats Got Drunk on the Beer Test. This supports a Left-Center rating rather than Left, as the outlet is not uniformly aligned with Democratic Party figures or progressive activists. However, editorially, The Atlantic has endorsed Democratic presidential candidates against Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, including its 2024 endorsement The Case for Kamala Harris. These endorsements and the outlet’s recurring anti-Trump editorial framing indicate a clear left-center editorial bias.

The Atlantic generally maintains high journalistic standards and publishes well-sourced reporting. For example, the 2025 Signal-chat reporting by Jeffrey Goldberg was later supported by the authenticity of the message thread and by fact-checking that found administration denials about the lack of “war plans” contradicted by the released messages. While The Atlantic sometimes uses strong editorial framing and provocative headlines, especially in essays and opinion, its factual reporting is typically well-sourced and transparent.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the last 5 years.

Overall, we rate The Atlantic Left-Center Biased due to editorial positions, presidential endorsements, and story framing that generally favor liberal perspectives while still publishing criticism of Democrats and progressives. We rate The Atlantic High for factual reporting based on strong sourcing, award-winning journalism, transparency, and a clean fact-check record. (5/15/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 07/07/2026)

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/