The Young Turks

These media sources are moderate 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 appealing 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 The Young Turks Left Biased based on story selection that always favors the progressive left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the occasional promotion of pseudoscience regarding GMOs and a failed fact check.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: TV Station
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 2002 as a radio program, The Young Turks (TYT) is now an American political commentary web series created by journalist Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, and Dave Koller. Currently co-hosted by Uygur and Ana Kasparian, although its primary focus is on political commentary, it provides opinions on topics of varying news genres.

Launched in 2006, TYT was the first daily streaming online talk show. In 2017, TYT won a Webby Award for best YouTube Presence, and on May 17, 2018, The Young Turks launched a 24-hour linear channel on YouTube TV, which includes all of TYT’s current shows and four new shows called The Damage Report, “#NoFilter,” “The Happy Half Hour” and “Old-School Sports.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The TYT website does not disclose who owns the Young Turks Network; however, Cenk Uygur is the assumed owner. In 2017, TYT received 20 million in funding “by newly formed growth equity fund 3L Capital, with additional backing from venture capital veterans Greycroft Partners and e.ventures, as well as Jeffrey Katzenberg’s recently launched WndrCo.” TYT is also supported by the Media Consortium, a nonprofit that supports independent journalism. The Media Consortium, in turn, “got funding from the Chicago Community Trust, the Park Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, and the Media Democracy Fund. The Media Democracy Fund lists 12 funding partners, and one of them is Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The website and YouTube channel generate revenue through paid subscriptions, advertising, and merchandise sales.

Analysis

In review, The Young Turks produces progressive left video news programming and written articles on their website. Headlines and articles often contain loaded emotional language such as this: Rep. Rashida Tlaib was sworn in using Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran, and, of course, people were mad. And For Tucker Carlson Sponsors, Immigration is Complicated. TYT tends to source its information to credible media outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, Sec.gov, and Open Secrets. The Young Turks tend to support progressive candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In general, all news reporting favors the left and aggressively attacks the right.

Bias

TYT generally supports the consensus of science on most issues; however, they tend to promote propaganda that points to the dangers of GMOs and Glyphosate when it comes to GMOs. In this video, Ana Kasparian said: “I think that it’s a little naive to make the assumption that scientists won’t get corrupted by money because scientists obviously have an incentive to support GMOs.” This statement seems logical on the surface, but it is extremely broad and not supported by any evidence. The Young Turks have also interviewed Anti-GMO activist Jill Latiano Howerton and her involvement in educating consumers about GMOs’ dangers. Jill Latiano Howerton was the executive producer of the film GMO OMG, panned for promoting Pseudoscience.

Finally, they have promoted the Seralini GM Maize Feeding study, which has been widely debunked. In general, Young Turks are pro-science when it comes to climate change and vaccines; however with GMO’s, tend to float pseudoscience, usually to connect Monsanto to wrongdoing. Some of the Young Turks commentaries regarding Monsanto are accurate as they have been caught manipulating data. This does not change the fact that scientific consensus indicates that GMOs are safe and Glyphosate a minimal risk.

Failed Fact Checks

• Dan Crenshaw Shouted at a 10-Year-Old Girl at an Event. – False

Overall, we rate The Young Turks Left Biased based on story selection that always favors the progressive left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the occasional promotion of pseudoscience regarding GMOs and a failed fact check. (5/15/2016) Update (D. Van Zandt 06/30/2022)

Source: https://tyt.com/