The Quest for Unbiased News: Companies Fighting Media Polarization

In a digital landscape plagued by distrust and division, a growing number of companies are positioning themselves as the antidote to biased media. AllSides, founded in 2012, stands at the forefront of this movement with its mission to present news from across the political spectrum.

During a November meeting with AllSides’ editorial team, a striking pattern emerged. Before discussing recent news events, each team member felt compelled to disclose their political leanings. Henry Brechter, the 28-year-old editor-in-chief, identified himself as having a “center bias.” Others on the call labeled themselves as “lean-left,” “right-biased,” or “left-biased.”

This transparency reflects AllSides’ core philosophy. The company intentionally recruits staff members with diverse ideological viewpoints and life experiences to ensure balanced coverage. As team member Andy Gorel explained, “What drives our team’s strength is we’re a bunch of normies.”

AllSides was created by John Gable and Scott McDonald, who met while working at a cybersecurity company. Gable, who had previously worked on campaigns for Mitch McConnell and George H.W. Bush, became disillusioned with the political discourse during the 2012 Obama-Romney presidential race. “We were very aware of the problems of division, of how society wasn’t listening to each other,” Gable explained. The rise of Donald Trump later amplified these concerns.

Today, AllSides operates as a “public benefit corporation,” balancing profit with its social mission. The company generates revenue by providing services to media organizations including Newsweek, the Associated Press, and Axel Springer. These services range from bias audits to editorial workshops and moderated discussions aimed at bridging political divides.

AllSides is just one player in an expanding field of companies tackling media bias. Competitors include Ad Fontes and News Guard, which rate news outlets; Ground News, Tangle News, The Flip Side, and Freespoke, which categorize articles by political leaning; USAFacts, founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, which provides “neutral” government data; and Straight Arrow News, created by Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, which promises reporting “without bias, filter, or spin.”

This surge in bias-focused media companies corresponds with plummeting public trust in traditional news sources. According to Pew Research, the percentage of Americans who trust national news organizations dropped from 76% in 2016 to just 56% in 2025. A separate poll found that 77% of U.S. adults believe news organizations favor one side over another.

A particularly revealing Pew finding highlights the disconnect between journalists and their audience: while 76% of Americans believe journalists should give equal coverage to all sides of an issue, only 44% of journalists agree. “The reader just wants to decide for themselves,” explained Julie Mastrine, AllSides’ director of marketing and media bias.

But as Boston University journalism professor Joan Donovan points out, these bias-tracking endeavors face fundamental challenges: “Some of these organizations are putting themselves in the position of being a referee in a game that has very few rules.”

USAFacts represents perhaps the most extreme attempt to eliminate bias. Operating entirely on Ballmer’s $30 million annual investment, the organization eschews traditional journalistic practices in favor of raw government data. They minimize adjectives (which Ballmer has called “partisan”), avoid interviews, and refuse to make future projections. One former employee described the approach as “almost religious” in its belief that “data will fix everything.”

This commitment to neutrality comes with drawbacks. Sasha Anderson, who helped launch USAFacts and now teaches at the University of Washington, notes that “providing unbiased information is not that interesting to people. Our brains are primordially wired to seek stories and meaning.”

Some critics argue that true neutrality is impossible and perhaps not even desirable. As journalism professor Matthew Pressman puts it, “A lot of the time, bias is in the eye of the beholder. The only solution to that is: Don’t try to be objective. Have a commitment to fair and accurate reporting, but have a perspective and a point of view.”

Despite these challenges, companies like AllSides remain committed to their mission. They’re even developing AI tools like “AllStances,” which aims to break news stories down into component parts and present multiple perspectives beyond the traditional left/right binary. As Brechter explains, “We’d gather and display all available research data, general history, and precedent around different issues and deliver it to users in a way that opens their minds.”

Whether these efforts will ultimately heal America’s polarized media landscape remains to be seen. But in an era of declining trust and increasing division, the demand for solutions shows no sign of slowing down.