[Alaska Media Bias Scorecard](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality) · one of 14 outlets scored # Alaska Public Media Media Bias & Reporting Quality [Alaska Public Media](https://alaskapublic.org) shows a near-zero net lean on party politics, at a partisan lean of \-0.3. On worldview it shows a near-zero net lean, at an ideological lean of \-0.2. The panel found no partisan lean at all in 7 of its 10 scored articles. Alaska Public Media is one of 14 outlets on the Alaska Media Bias Scorecard. A panel of three AI models, from three different companies, scored those 10 articles under rubric v0.4.0, with every outlet name and byline removed. Data as of 2026-11-02. The numbers move as the sample grows. **About this sample.** 10 articles from Alaska Public Media's website, scored between 2026-09-29 and 2026-11-02. They come from its own news and opinion sections, which we call [local](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-local "An outlet's own journalism: its news, politics, business and opinion sections, sorted by the same rule for every outlet. Wire stories, sports and syndicated lifestyle columns are left out. Local means the outlet's own reporting, not stories set in Alaska, which the coverage map counts separately."). Wire, sports and syndicated lifestyle pieces are left out. A broadcaster is scored on its written web articles, not its broadcasts. The articles were read by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5, openai/gpt-5.6-terra, google/gemini-3.8-flash, with outlet names and bylines removed. That blinding is partial, since style or subject can still hint at the source. The panel scores the text and does not fact-check it. [Full methodology](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#methodology). Published by Communities News, which also operates Alaska News. Spot an error? [Tell us](https://communities.news/contact). ## What the results mean - Above the board median on evidence fairness (3.1 against 2.8), sourcing (3.1 against 2.5), source independence (2.6 against 1.9), language neutrality (4 against 3.4). - Institutional posture leans toward deference (net -0.5, across 10 articles). - Conservation-development framing rests on 1 article, too few to read. These describe the sampled articles, not every story Alaska Public Media publishes. Labels such as [near-zero net lean](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-nearzero "The label for a net lean closer to zero than 0.5. From 0.5 up to 1.5 the label is "leans", and 1.5 or more names the side outright. These are cutoffs for labeling, not statistical tests, so read the number beside the label: a -0.4 and a -0.5 differ by a tenth.") are cutoffs on the number beside them, not statistical tests. ## Its fingerprint Five lean axes, on the same -3 to +3 scale every outlet is drawn on. The marker is the net lean. The pale band spans the average swing per article in both directions. \[Chart: Alaska Public Media: lean fingerprint across five axes\] ## Where it sits among Alaska's outlets \[Chart: Every tracked outlet positioned by ideological lean, source independence, and publishing volume, each bubble labeled with its outlet name\] **Alaska Public Media** Ideological lean \-0.2 · independence 2.6 / 4 \~1 local articles/day · 10 scored _Early read: 2 days of counted output_ **How to read this:** left and right is ideological tilt. Up is source independence, meaning official claims are tested rather than passed along. Bubble size is local articles per day: publishing volume, not audience reach. Dashed outlines mark the known-lean control and the out-of-market reference. The moose marks our own newsroom. Hover or tap any bubble to spotlight it and see its exact numbers. Tap again or click away to release it. ## Its scores beside the board __Alaska Public Media beside the median of the 12 Alaska outlets on the board. The known-lean control and the out-of-state reference are left out of the median. Data last updated 2026-11-02.__ | Dimension | Alaska Public Media | Board median | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | | [Partisan lean (-3 Democratic to +3 Republican)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-partisan "Party favoritism. Negative = Democratic-coded framing, positive = Republican-coded, 0 = none detected. Requires actual party-relevant treatment, not vibes.") | \-0.3 (near-zero net lean) | \-0.1 (near-zero net lean) | | Partisan lean strength (0-3, direction ignored) | 0.3 | 0.4 | | Articles with no partisan lean detected | 7 of 10 | \- | | [Ideological tilt (-3 progressive to +3 conservative)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-ideological "Worldview rather than party: whose assumptions and policy logic the framing favors. Negative = progressive, positive = conservative.") | \-0.2 net, 0.2 strength (n=10) | \-0.1 net, 0.7 strength | | [Institutional posture (-3 deference to +3 skepticism)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-institutional "Whether official accounts are passed along or tested. NEGATIVE = deference (official accounts carried as fact), POSITIVE = skepticism (institutions treated as interested parties). Alaska News's negative score here means we center and trust official records more than anyone on the board. We publish it as the thing we are working to change.") | \-0.5 net, 0.9 strength (n=10) | \-0.2 net, 1 strength | | [Establishment-populist framing (-3 establishment to +3 populist)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-populist "Whose voice is the default lens on power. Negative = establishment (expert, official and incumbent views), positive = populist (outsider and ordinary-person grievance). It is separate from left and right, because populism comes in both flavors.") | \-0.2 net, 0.4 strength (n=10) | \-0.2 net, 0.7 strength | | [Conservation-development framing (-3 conservation to +3 development)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-landuse "On resource and land stories, whose costs get counted. Negative = conservation framing favored, positive = development framing. It is scored only where the topic applies, which is why its n is smaller.") | 0 net, 0 strength (n=1, too few to read) | 0.2 net, 1 strength | | [Evidence fairness (0-4)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-evidence "0 to 4. Whether each claim gets scrutiny in proportion to its evidence. There is no manufactured balance for unsupported positions, and no burying of supported ones.") | 3.1 | 2.8 | | [Sourcing (0-4)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-sourcing "0 to 4. Whether the story shows where its facts come from: named sources, linked records, checked numbers, and the affected people heard. A one-sided account of a contested matter caps at 2.") | 3.1 | 2.5 | | [Source independence (0-4)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-independence "0 to 4. Whether interested parties' claims are tested rather than passed along. An article can sound perfectly neutral while adopting an official's framing whole, and that scores low here. This is Alaska News's weakest score and our active work.") | 2.6 | 1.9 | | [Analysis labeling (0-4)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-labeling "0 to 4. Whether interpretation is marked as interpretation. News, analysis and opinion should never blur inside news copy.") | 3.8 | 3.8 | | [Language neutrality (0-4)](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-language "0 to 4. Whether the wording stays out of the way: no loaded adjectives, partisan cues or smuggled judgment.") | 4 | 3.4 | | Articles sampled | 10 | \- | ## Same story, side by side When Alaska Public Media and another tracked outlet covered the same story, the panel compared the two blinded accounts directly. Alaska Public Media appeared in 4 of 122 such comparisons. A win counts only when a majority of the three judges agree. These are small numbers, stated as counts rather than a ranking. __Alaska Public Media's same-story results, 2026-11-02.__ | Category | Times picked | | ------------------------------------ | ------------ | | fairest evidence treatment | 1 of 4 | | best sourced | 1 of 4 | | most independent of official framing | 2 of 4 | | most editorialized | 0 of 4 | ## Coverage and volume Alaska Public Media publishes about **1** [local story](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality#term-local "An outlet's own journalism: its news, politics, business and opinion sections, sorted by the same rule for every outlet. Wire stories, sports and syndicated lifestyle columns are left out. Local means the outlet's own reporting, not stories set in Alaska, which the coverage map counts separately.") a day, an early read from 2 complete days of data. Of 12 articles read for places, 5 are set in an Alaska community, 5 are statewide, 1 is about places outside Alaska and 1 names no place. Most covered: Anchorage (3), Petersburg (1), Haines (1), Juneau (1), Mat-Su (1). Alaska News (1079 place mentions)Anchorage Daily News (197 place mentions)Alaska Beacon (95 place mentions)Alaska Public Media (7 place mentions)Anchorage Press (14 place mentions)The Alaska Current (12 place mentions)The Alaska Story (73 place mentions)Juneau Independent (217 place mentions)Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (78 place mentions)MatSu Sentinel (101 place mentions)Alaska Watchman (40 place mentions)Alaska's News Source (225 place mentions)Must Read Alaska (43 place mentions) ## Access and distribution These are facts about how Alaska Public Media publishes, not scores. Blocking AI crawlers is a legitimate choice. When our crawler could not complete a check, the table says why. __Alaska Public Media's access facts, checked 2026-11-02.__ | Paywall | RSS | Full-text RSS | AI crawlers blocked | Readable without JS | | ------- | --- | ------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- | | none | yes | no | 9 | yes | ## Why it is on the board The public broadcaster, measured since 2026-11-01 from its news section feed; it was listed unmeasured until then because the feed its homepage advertises is empty. _Reach context: Statewide public broadcaster; Tranco \~46,000 (2026-10)._ ## How this is measured Three models from three vendors score each article against a published rubric, with outlet names and bylines removed first. An outlet's number is the mean of its per-article panel medians. Lean measures direction only, never quality. The full method, its validation checks and every outlet's numbers are on the [Alaska Media Bias Scorecard](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality). The data is free to reuse with credit, under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## The other outlets on the board [Alaska News](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/alaska-news) · [Anchorage Daily News](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/adn) · [Alaska Beacon](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/alaska-beacon) · [Anchorage Press](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/anchorage-press) · [The Alaska Current](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/alaska-current) · [The Alaska Story](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/alaska-story) · [Juneau Independent](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/juneau-independent) · [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/news-miner) · [MatSu Sentinel](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/matsu-sentinel) · [Alaska Watchman](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/alaska-watchman) · [Alaska's News Source](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/ktuu) · [Nieman Lab](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/nieman-lab) · [Must Read Alaska](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality/must-read-alaska) [Back to the Alaska Media Bias Scorecard](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/neutrality) · [Coverage map](https://communities.news/communities/alaska-news/coverage)