This Chrome extension determines how slanted your news source is and displays a score in your browser's toolbar.
How is the score calculated? Using the Tim Groseclose and Jeff Milyo slant score, media outlets are assigned a score of 0-100. Here is how the scale breaks down:
0 : most conservative
100 : most liberal
To find out more out, read about slant score on the Freakanomics blog.
I was drawn to the exploration of media bias since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Images poured out from various media outlets of survivors scavenging for supplies. One picture set off a firestorm that showed one couple "finding supplies" while another showed a young black man "looting supplies."
This is the idea for the project: to provide users with an accessible way to determine how biased their news sources are without ever leaving the page.
Currently, the extension monitors the slant from the following media outlets: *ABC Good Morning America
*ABC World News Tonight
*CBS Early Show
*CBS Evening News
*CNN NewsNight with Aaron Brown
*Drudge Report
*Fox News Spec. Rept. w/ Brit Hume
*Los Angeles Times
*NBC Nightly News
*NBC Today Show
*New York Times
*Newshour with Jim Lehrer
*Newsweek
*NPR Morning Edition
*Time Magazine
*U.S. News and World Report
*USA Today
*Wall Street Journal
*Washington Post
*Washington Times
"This extension will make sure ALL voices are heard."
- Fork the remote
- Clone it
- Open Chrome
- Type Chrome://extensions/
- Tick the Developer mode checkbox at the top-left of that window
- Then click the Load unpacked extension button
- Point Chrome to the folder that contains Slant
- Click Select or OK (varies by operating system)
- Visit a news site and click on the Slant icon to see its slant score
We are always looking for ways to expand this extension. Feel free to fork it and add your own spin on this awesome tool!
Read more about how slant scores and media bias are created
-Tim Groseclose Blog on Slant Quotients