thom w wrote:
What do you know about D. Van Zandt, and why do you call him an "armchair critic"?
David Van Zandt is an American attorney, legal scholar, and academic administrator. He served as president of The New School from 2011 to 2020. Earlier he served as Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, from 1995 to 2011. Wikipedia
Born: February 17, 1953 (age 68 years), Montgomery, New Jersey, United States
Media Bias/Fact Check
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Media Bias/Fact Check
Media Bias Fact Check wordmark.png
Founded 2015; 6 years ago
Headquarters Greensboro, North Carolina
Owner Dave Van Zandt[1]
URL mediabiasfactcheck.com Edit this at Wikidata
Current status Active
Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) is an American website founded in 2015 by editor Dave Van Zandt.[1] The website has been described as an amateur effort to rate news media sources based on factual accuracy and political bias.[2]
Chart showing the degree of bias rating given to CNN
Sites are rated on a 0–10 scale by Van Zandt and his team using categories such as biased wording and headlines, factuality and sourcing, and story choices.[2] The team is comprised of four writers/contributors (Aaron O'Leary, Karen O'Connor Rubsam, Kenneth White, and Jim Fowler) and the team has three researchers (Dennis Kelley, Michael Allen, and McKenzie Huitsing.)[1] Mike Crowe, another team member, handles extensions and factual searches. [1]
The Columbia Journalism Review describes Media Bias/Fact Check as an amateur attempt at categorizing media bias and Van Zandt as an "armchair media analyst".[2] The Poynter Institute notes, "Media Bias/Fact Check is a widely cited source for news stories and even studies about misinformation, despite the fact that its method is in no way scientific."[3]
The site has been used by researchers at the University of Michigan to create a tool called the "Iffy Quotient", which draws data from Media Bias/Fact Check and NewsWhip to track the prevalence of "f**e news" and questionable sources on social media.[4][5][6]