The Spectacle is rated Left with Mixed factual reporting by Media Bias Fact Check.
LEFT BIAS
These media sources are moderate to strongly biased toward liberal/progressive causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appealing to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage liberal/progressive causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.
- Overall, we rate The Spectacle Left biased based on strong anti-imperialist, socialist-aligned, pro-Palestinian, and Irish republican perspectives combined with consistently negative framing of Western governments and Israel. We rate it Mixed for factual reporting because many underlying events and quotations are accurate, but selective sourcing, highly loaded language, one-sided framing, and presentation of disputed political and legal interpretations as established facts reduce reliability.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEFT (-8.8)
Factual Reporting: MIXED (5.0)
Country: Ireland
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: EXCELLENT
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY
History
The Spectacle is an independent Substack publication founded in 2024 by Irish writer Deaglan O’Mulrooney. According to its About page, it covers world news, geopolitics, and culture while emphasizing stories and perspectives that O’Mulrooney believes Western mainstream media neglects.
The publication has grown to several thousand subscribers and publishes both shorter commentary and longer articles through its paid “Microscope” section.
Read our profile on the Irish media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
The Spectacle is independently owned and written primarily by Deaglan O’Mulrooney. Revenue comes from paid Substack subscriptions and voluntary reader donations through Ko-fi. Paid subscribers receive access to longer analysis and archives, while O’Mulrooney regularly describes the publication as reader-supported and asks readers for direct financial contributions.
Analysis / Bias
The Spectacle publishes from a strongly left-wing, anti-imperialist perspective. Its commentary is particularly critical of Israel, the United States, Britain, NATO-aligned foreign policy, capitalism, Western media, and right-wing nationalism.
For example, Israel’s minister of genocide calls for nightly pogroms as the UK responds with a trade ban describes Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as “evil” and treats Israel’s actions in Gaza as established genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The underlying Ben-Gvir quotation is accurate. Multiple major news organizations reported that he advocated killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night and said some people there were “not worthy of life.” However, The Spectacle frequently moves from documented facts to sweeping conclusions without clearly distinguishing allegation, legal argument, and established finding.
Similarly, Britain’s new prime minister authorises the use of British bases in the United States’ illegal war on Iran presents the legality of U.S. military action as settled fact and characterizes British cooperation as imperial complicity. Reporting confirms that Andy Burnham became prime minister in July 2026 and maintained close defense cooperation with the United States, but the article’s broader legal and moral conclusions are advocacy rather than neutral reporting.
In Foreign invaders are destroying Ireland…and they’re not brown, O’Mulrooney condemns racist violence in Belfast while presenting loyalism through an explicitly Irish republican framework. The underlying anti-immigrant violence was real: Reuters reported masked protesters burning homes and vehicles following a stabbing involving a Sudanese suspect. However, the article broadly portrays loyalists as foreign colonizers and treats centuries of Northern Irish history through a strongly partisan nationalist lens.
O’Mulrooney also operates another publication, The Starry Plough, which describes itself as a socialist publication and promotes leftist political analysis.
Therefore, we rate The Spectacle as left-biased based on its anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, pro-Palestinian, Irish republican, and consistently anti-Western framing.
Failed Fact Checks
- None to date. However, factual reliability is reduced by highly selective sourcing and the frequent presentation of contested interpretations as settled facts. The publication often uses accurate underlying events while applying strongly ideological conclusions concerning genocide, imperialism, colonialism, international law, and Western complicity.
Overall, we rate The Spectacle Left biased based on strong anti-imperialist, socialist-aligned, pro-Palestinian, and Irish republican perspectives combined with consistently negative framing of Western governments and Israel. We rate it Mixed for factual reporting because many underlying events and quotations are accurate, but selective sourcing, highly loaded language, one-sided framing, and presentation of disputed political and legal interpretations as established facts reduce reliability. (D. Van Zandt 08/24/2026)
Source: https://thespectaclemag.substack.com/
Last Updated on August 24, 2026 by Media Bias Fact Check
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Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources