Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard · one of 4 outlets scored
West Virginia Watch Media Bias & Reporting Quality
West Virginia Watch shows a near-zero net lean on party politics, at a partisan lean of -0.4. On worldview it leans left, at an ideological lean of -1. The panel found no partisan lean at all in 3 of its 5 scored articles.
West Virginia Watch is one of 4 outlets on the Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard. A panel of three AI models, from three different companies, scored those 5 articles under rubric v0.4.0, with every outlet name and byline removed. Data as of 2026-10-31. The numbers move as the sample grows.
What the results mean#
- Above the board median on sourcing (2.6 against 2.4), source independence (1.8 against 1.6).
- Below the board median on evidence fairness (2.8 against 2.9), analysis labeling (3.4 against 3.5), language neutrality (2.8 against 3.6).
- Ideological tilt rests on 4 articles, too few to read.
- Institutional posture nets near zero (0.2) with strength 1.4: its articles lean both ways and cancel.
- Establishment-populist framing nets near zero (0) with strength 0.8: its articles lean both ways and cancel.
- Conservation-development framing rests on 1 article, too few to read.
These describe the sampled articles, not every story West Virginia Watch 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#
~2.7 local articles/day · 5 scored
Early read: 6 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#
| Dimension | West Virginia Watch | Board median |
|---|---|---|
| Partisan lean (-3 Democratic to +3 Republican) | -0.4 (near-zero net lean) | 0.1 (near-zero net lean) |
| Partisan lean strength (0-3, direction ignored) | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Articles with no partisan lean detected | 3 of 5 | - |
| Ideological tilt (-3 progressive to +3 conservative) | -1 net, 1.5 strength (n=4, too few to read) | 0 net, 0.6 strength |
| Institutional posture (-3 deference to +3 skepticism) | 0.2 net, 1.4 strength (n=5) | -0.7 net, 1.3 strength |
| Establishment-populist framing (-3 establishment to +3 populist) | 0 net, 0.8 strength (n=5) | -0.6 net, 0.9 strength |
| Conservation-development framing (-3 conservation to +3 development) | -1 net, 1 strength (n=1, too few to read) | 0.2 net, 1 strength |
| Evidence fairness (0-4) | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Sourcing (0-4) | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Source independence (0-4) | 1.8 | 1.6 |
| Analysis labeling (0-4) | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Language neutrality (0-4) | 2.8 | 3.6 |
| Articles sampled | 5 | - |
Same story, side by side#
When West Virginia Watch and another tracked outlet covered the same story, the panel compared the two blinded accounts directly. West Virginia Watch appeared in 2 of 3 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 2 |
| best sourced | 2 of 2 |
| most independent of official framing | 2 of 2 |
| most editorialized | 2 of 2 |
Coverage and volume#
West Virginia Watch publishes about 2.7 local stories a day, an early read from 6 complete days of data. Of 141 articles read for places, 12 are set in a Central Appalachia community, 46 are statewide, 67 are about places outside Central Appalachia and 16 name no place. Most covered: Charleston (4), Kanawha County (2), Monongahela National Forest (1), Institute (1), Wallback (1), Clay County (1).
Access and distribution#
These are facts about how West Virginia Watch 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| none | yes | yes | 11 | not checked (our crawler got HTTP 403) |
Why it is on the board#
The statehouse nonprofit (States Newsroom).
Reach context: Tranco ~328,000 (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 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
Back to the Central Appalachia Media Bias Scorecard · Coverage map