Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you might want to know about how Extra Extra works, where our ratings come from, and how to get the most out of comparing coverage across the spectrum.
What is Extra Extra?
Extra Extra is a free news-comparison and media-literacy tool. We gather headlines from more than 70 news outlets across the political spectrum, group articles that cover the same story, and add our own original analysis of how left-leaning, center, and right-leaning sources frame that story differently. The goal is to help you see any news event from every angle in one place.
How do you decide whether a source is left, center, or right?
We don't rely on our own opinions. Each outlet's political lean is drawn from the consensus of established, independent media-bias rating organizations — AllSides, Ad Fontes Media, and Media Bias/Fact Check. When those raters disagree, we use the most moderate or consensus assessment. You can see every source and its rating on our Sources and Source Grades pages.
How does the story grouping work?
An automated clustering algorithm reads the headlines from every source and groups together articles that are about the same underlying event, using keyword overlap and named-entity matching. Each resulting cluster becomes a story page showing the left, center, and right coverage side by side. Because the process is automated, it occasionally groups or labels a story imperfectly — if you spot one, we'd genuinely appreciate a note via our contact page.
What is a "blind spot"?
A blind spot is a story that's being covered heavily by one side of the political spectrum but largely ignored by the other. We detect and flag these automatically. Blind spots are often as revealing as the coverage itself, because they show which topics each side considers important — or prefers not to discuss.
What are the credibility (A–D) ratings?
Alongside political lean, we show a reliability rating for each source — A (high factuality) through D (low factuality) — based on independent assessments of each outlet's factual track record. A low rating doesn't mean a source is always wrong; it means its reporting is best cross-checked against higher-rated outlets. The rating is a tool for weighing what you read, not a verdict on any single article.
Do you write your own articles, or just link to others?
Both, in a sense. We do not republish or host the full text of other outlets' articles — every headline links out to the original story on the publisher's own site. What we create ourselves is the layer on top: the side-by-side comparison, the coverage analysis describing how framing differs, the source profiles, the diversity and blind-spot metrics, and our methodology and media-literacy guides. That original analysis is what makes Extra Extra more than a list of links.
How often is the site updated?
Our pipeline fetches fresh articles, re-clusters stories, and regenerates summaries on a recurring schedule throughout the day, so the front page reflects the current news cycle. Each story page also notes when it was last updated.
Is Extra Extra biased? Who funds it?
Extra Extra is independent and not affiliated with any political party, campaign, news organization, or advocacy group. Our aim is to present multiple perspectives fairly, not to push one. The site is free to read and is supported by unobtrusive advertising and optional reader contributions, which keeps it open to everyone.
Is it free? Do I need an account?
Yes, it's completely free, and no account is required. You can read everything without signing up. If you'd like a daily digest, you can optionally subscribe to our newsletter, The Daily Spectrum, and unsubscribe anytime.
How do I suggest a source or report a problem?
We welcome it. If we're missing an outlet, mislabeled one, or grouped a story incorrectly, head to our contact page and send us the details with a link. Reader corrections are one of the best ways we catch the edge cases our automated systems miss.
Still have a question?
We're a small, independent team and we read everything. Reach us through our contact page, or learn more about our methodology.