Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard · one of 5 outlets scored
The Herald-Dispatch Media Bias & Reporting Quality
The Herald-Dispatch shows a near-zero net lean on party politics, at a partisan lean of -0.1. 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 9 of its 10 scored articles.
The Herald-Dispatch is one of 5 outlets on the Central Appalachia 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 2026-11-01. The numbers move as the sample grows.
What the results mean#
- Above the board median on evidence fairness (3 against 2.8), sourcing (2.9 against 2.6), analysis labeling (4 against 3.5), language neutrality (4 against 3.6).
- Institutional posture leans toward deference (net -0.9, across 7 articles).
- Establishment-populist framing leans toward establishment (net -0.5, across 6 articles).
- Conservation-development framing rests on 1 article, too few to read.
These describe the sampled articles, not every story The Herald-Dispatch publishes. Labels such as near-zero net lean 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.
Where it sits among Central Appalachia's outlets#
~10.9 local articles/day · 10 scored
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#
| Dimension | The Herald-Dispatch | Board median |
|---|---|---|
| Partisan lean (-3 Democratic to +3 Republican) | -0.1 (near-zero net lean) | 0 (near-zero net lean) |
| Partisan lean strength (0-3, direction ignored) | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Articles with no partisan lean detected | 9 of 10 | - |
| Ideological tilt (-3 progressive to +3 conservative) | -0.2 net, 0.2 strength (n=6) | -0.2 net, 0.5 strength |
| Institutional posture (-3 deference to +3 skepticism) | -0.9 net, 0.9 strength (n=7) | -0.9 net, 1.3 strength |
| Establishment-populist framing (-3 establishment to +3 populist) | -0.5 net, 0.5 strength (n=6) | -0.6 net, 0.8 strength |
| Conservation-development framing (-3 conservation to +3 development) | 0 net, 0 strength (n=1, too few to read) | 0 net, 1 strength |
| Evidence fairness (0-4) | 3 | 2.8 |
| Sourcing (0-4) | 2.9 | 2.6 |
| Source independence (0-4) | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Analysis labeling (0-4) | 4 | 3.5 |
| Language neutrality (0-4) | 4 | 3.6 |
| Articles sampled | 10 | - |
Same story, side by side#
When The Herald-Dispatch and another tracked outlet covered the same story, the panel compared the two blinded accounts directly. The Herald-Dispatch appeared in 1 of 5 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.
| Category | Times picked |
|---|---|
| fairest evidence treatment | 1 of 1 |
| best sourced | 1 of 1 |
| most independent of official framing | 1 of 1 |
| most editorialized | 1 of 1 |
Coverage and volume#
The Herald-Dispatch publishes about 10.9 local stories a day. Of 199 articles read for places, 46 are set in a Central Appalachia community, 21 are statewide, 45 are about places outside Central Appalachia and 87 name no place. Most covered: Huntington (18), Cabell County (4), Hurricane (3), Kenova (2), Logan County (2), Eleanor (2).
Access and distribution#
These are facts about how The Herald-Dispatch publishes, not scores. Blocking AI crawlers is a legitimate choice. When our crawler could not complete a check, the table says why.
| Paywall | RSS | Full-text RSS | AI crawlers blocked | Readable without JS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| metered | unreachable from our collection point (HTTP 429) | no | 12 | yes |
Why it is on the board#
Huntington's daily newspaper.
Reach context: Tranco ~89,700 (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 Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard. The data is free to reuse with credit, under CC BY 4.0.
The other outlets on the board#
Charleston Gazette-Mail · Cardinal News · West Virginia Public Broadcasting · West Virginia Watch
Back to the Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard · Coverage map