While an institution’s reliability and bias can shift over time, I think AP and Reuters currently fit the bill. They report the facts the most reliably of any big-name general news sources I know of, without very much analysis or opinion. Their political leaning is nearly neutral or balanced, but maybe on the left side of the line (Reuters might be slightly less biased than AP, but still on the left side).
The Wall Street Journal is a little bit less reliable on the facts, also centrist, and on the right side of the line due to their business focus. If you read this too, it may help you counterbalance AP’s and Reuters’ slight left bias without going to the unreliable right-wing extremist sources.
If you want only one source, The Hill is about as nonpartisan as it gets (maybe a bit less reliable on the facts than the WSJ, but still pretty good). They report on both sides of the aisle. Their focus is, in their words, “on the inner workings of Congress and the nexus of politics and business”.
[Epistemic status: I looked at the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. Exactly how impartial their judgements are, I can’t say, but they do seem to try. Media Bias/Fact Check mostly agrees with these judgements, but I don’t think they’re any more reliable.]
That said, even an “impartial” news source (to the extent there is such a thing) is going to give you a very distorted view of the world due to selection biases and the Overton Window. “Newsworthy” stories are, by their nature, rare occurrences, and will tend to amplify your availability bias. Don’t lose sight of base rates. Our World in Data should be worth exploring for that reason. They publish what they think is important rather than what is new.
While an institution’s reliability and bias can shift over time, I think AP and Reuters currently fit the bill. They report the facts the most reliably of any big-name general news sources I know of, without very much analysis or opinion. Their political leaning is nearly neutral or balanced, but maybe on the left side of the line (Reuters might be slightly less biased than AP, but still on the left side).
The Wall Street Journal is a little bit less reliable on the facts, also centrist, and on the right side of the line due to their business focus. If you read this too, it may help you counterbalance AP’s and Reuters’ slight left bias without going to the unreliable right-wing extremist sources.
If you want only one source, The Hill is about as nonpartisan as it gets (maybe a bit less reliable on the facts than the WSJ, but still pretty good). They report on both sides of the aisle. Their focus is, in their words, “on the inner workings of Congress and the nexus of politics and business”.
[Epistemic status: I looked at the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. Exactly how impartial their judgements are, I can’t say, but they do seem to try. Media Bias/Fact Check mostly agrees with these judgements, but I don’t think they’re any more reliable.]
That said, even an “impartial” news source (to the extent there is such a thing) is going to give you a very distorted view of the world due to selection biases and the Overton Window. “Newsworthy” stories are, by their nature, rare occurrences, and will tend to amplify your availability bias. Don’t lose sight of base rates. Our World in Data should be worth exploring for that reason. They publish what they think is important rather than what is new.