Understand
Understand the News
Comparing headlines is only half the work. These guides explain how news coverage is shaped, how we analyze it, and how to become a sharper reader of everything you see — here and everywhere else.
Why understanding media bias matters
Most people don't choose their news — an algorithm chooses it for them. The stories you see are filtered by what you clicked yesterday, and over time that filtering hardens into a worldview that feels complete but isn't. The result is two readers looking at the same day of news and seeing two different countries.
The antidote isn't distrusting everything. It's understanding how coverage gets made: why one outlet leads with a story another ignores, why the same facts arrive wrapped in different adjectives, and why "bias" usually lives in what's emphasized or omitted rather than in outright falsehood. Once you can see those mechanics, no single headline can steer you.
Everything below is written by us and free to read. Start with the media-literacy guide if you're new; start with the methodology if you want to know exactly how this site does what it does.
The guides
Media literacy
How to Read the News Critically
The core skill. Learn to spot selection, framing, language, and source bias — and a five-step method for comparing coverage of any story.
Read the guide
Methodology
How Extra Extra Works
How we categorize sources, cluster stories, detect blind spots, and generate AI-assisted analysis — including where our approach falls short.
Read the guide
Bias chart
The Media Bias Chart
Every source we track, plotted by political lean and factual reliability. See where your favorite outlets actually sit on the spectrum.
Read the guide
Source grades
Source Reliability Grades
What the A–D credibility ratings mean, where they come from, and why a source's factual track record matters as much as its political lean.
Read the guide
Sources
The Source Directory
All 200+ outlets we aggregate, with each one's political categorization and reliability rating in a single browsable directory.
Read the guide
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Who runs Extra Extra, how the story grouping works, whether we're biased, who funds us, and how to report a mislabeled source.
Read the guide
Then put it into practice
Theory sticks when you use it. Pick any story on our compare page and watch the left, center, and right framings sit side by side.
Compare today's stories →