Hawaii Media Bias Scorecard · one of 6 outlets scored
KHON2 Media Bias & Reporting Quality
KHON2 shows a near-zero net lean on party politics, at a partisan lean of 0. On worldview it shows a near-zero net lean, at an ideological lean of -0.1. The panel found no partisan lean at all in 75 of its 77 scored articles.
KHON2 is one of 6 outlets on the Hawaii Media Bias Scorecard. A panel of three AI models, from three different companies, scored those 77 articles under rubric v0.4.0, with every outlet name and byline removed. Data as of . The numbers move as the sample grows.
What the results mean#
- Above the board median on evidence fairness (3 against 2.8), language neutrality (3.8 against 3.7).
- Institutional posture leans toward deference (net -1, across 66 articles).
These describe the sampled articles, not every story KHON2 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 Hawaii's outlets#
~9.6 local articles/day · 77 scored
How to read this: left and right is ideological tilt. This market's outlets sit close together, so the map shows lean from -1 to +1 of the full -3 to +3 scale. Zoomed in, small gaps look large: each outlet's lean is averaged over 30 to 100 scored articles, so a gap of a few tenths may not hold as more are scored. 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 | KHON2 | Board median |
|---|---|---|
| Partisan lean (-3 Democratic to +3 Republican) | 0 (near-zero net lean) | -0.1 (near-zero net lean) |
| Partisan lean strength (0-3, direction ignored) | 0 | 0.2 |
| Articles with no partisan lean detected | 75 of 77 | - |
| Ideological tilt (-3 progressive to +3 conservative) | -0.1 net, 0.3 strength (n=45) | -0.2 net, 0.5 strength |
| Institutional posture (-3 deference to +3 skepticism) | -1 net, 1 strength (n=66) | -0.8 net, 1 strength |
| Establishment-populist framing (-3 establishment to +3 populist) | -0.4 net, 0.6 strength (n=55) | -0.4 net, 0.8 strength |
| Conservation-development framing (-3 conservation to +3 development) | -0.2 net, 0.5 strength (n=9) | -0.5 net, 1 strength |
| Evidence fairness (0-4) | 3 | 2.8 |
| Sourcing (0-4) | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Source independence (0-4) | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Analysis labeling (0-4) | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Language neutrality (0-4) | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Articles sampled | 77 | - |
Same story, side by side#
No matched same-story comparison for KHON2 in this dataset yet.
Coverage and volume#
KHON2 publishes about 9.6 local stories a day. Of 272 articles read for places, 96 are set in a Hawaii community, 56 are statewide, 93 are about places outside Hawaii and 27 name no place. Most covered: Honolulu (22), Oahu (9), Kalihi (4), Aiea (4), Kauaʻi (3), Kihei (3).
Machine access#
This shows how KHON2's site answers software, not whether a person can read it. These are facts about how KHON2 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 | no | 12 | not checked (our crawler got HTTP 403) |
Why it is on the board#
Honolulu's Fox television newsroom (Nexstar).
Articles read through a web browser since , on a volunteer's home connection, because our crawler is refused. Its articles refuse our crawler, which runs in a US data center, while its feed answers (checked Oct. 26, 2026). Last read .
Reach context:
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 Hawaii Media Bias Scorecard. The data is free to reuse with credit, under CC BY 4.0.
The other outlets on the board#
Honolulu Star-Advertiser · Honolulu Civil Beat · Hawaii News Now · Hawaiʻi Public Radio · The Maui News