What is the political leaning of thehill compared with other major US outlets?
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Executive summary
The Hill is widely characterized by media-watchers as relatively centrist or minimally biased compared with major U.S. outlets: Media Bias/Fact Check lists it as "Least Biased" and "Mostly Factual" [1], while Ad Fontes Media rates it "neutral/balanced" and reliable [2]. Audience reach has grown substantially in recent years — Wikipedia notes The Hill ranked second for online politics readership and attracted about 42 million monthly visits as of October 2025 [3] — which places it in the mainstream set of high‑traffic political sites alongside CNN and Politico [3].
1. The Hill’s editorial position: the "institutional" center
Observers who evaluate outlets systematically place The Hill near the center: Media Bias/Fact Check calls it "Least Biased" based on balanced editorial positions and gives a "Mostly Factual" reporting rating [1], and Ad Fontes Media rates The Hill as neutral/balanced in bias and high in reliability [2]. Those assessments reflect The Hill’s institutional mission as a congressional-focused newsroom distributed in D.C. and to lawmakers, where straight news and policy reporting dominate [3] [4].
2. How that compares to explicitly partisan outlets
Compared with outlets widely seen as ideologically tilted — for example, explicitly conservative opinion brands or strongly progressive outlets — The Hill’s central ratings indicate less systematic ideological slant in its news pages [1] [2]. That does not mean The Hill lacks opinion or partisan voices: its site carries opinion pieces that can be sharply critical of political figures (for example editorials critical of President Trump) and the outlet hosts pundit-driven Hill.TV segments with partisan tones (p1_s9; [6]–p1_s7).
3. Mix of news and opinion: a key caveat
Media Bias/Fact Check qualifies its assessment by lowering a “High” factual rating to “Mostly Factual” because opinion columns have sometimes promoted unproven claims and because of past weaknesses in clearly separating opinion headlines from straight reporting [1]. The Hill’s front pages and Hill.TV programming include both neutral news and highly opinionated segments; consumers should distinguish news articles from labeled opinion pieces and platform shows (p1_s3; [6]–p1_s7).
4. Topic selection and audience signals
The Hill’s coverage concentrates on Congress, policy, campaigns and Capitol Hill affairs, which shapes perceived neutrality: outlets that specialize in political process reporting tend to be rated more centrist by coders because much content is transactional and quote‑driven [3] [2]. Growth in traffic and social engagement — ranking second in online politics readership in some measures and attracting roughly 42 million monthly visits as of late 2025 — makes The Hill a mass audience political news source, not a niche ideological outlet [3].
5. Divergent evaluations among rating projects
Different media-rating projects converge on The Hill’s center/neutral placement but use distinct methods: Ad Fontes uses panels with left, center and right analysts to derive "neutral/balanced" [2], while Media Bias/Fact Check applies its own criteria to call it "Least Biased" but "Mostly Factual" due to some opinion issues [1]. Other aggregators (e.g., bias charts referenced by Biasly) note The Hill can appear "somewhat right" on some topics while generally moderate overall, underlining that perceived leaning can shift by subject and sample [5].
6. What this means for readers comparing outlets
If you rank U.S. outlets on a left–center–right spectrum, The Hill sits closer to center than strongly partisan platforms and is rated reliable by multiple evaluators [1] [2]. But readers should watch two realities: The Hill publishes distinct opinion content that can be partisan and topic choice, headlines and TV segments can create moments that appear more ideologically slanted (p1_s2; [6]–p1_s7). In short, The Hill functions as a mainstream political newsroom with a mix of neutral reporting and opinionated commentary.
Limitations and transparency: available sources for this piece are The Hill’s site and several third‑party ratings [3] [1] [2] [5]. These sources do not provide a side‑by‑side numerical bias score against every major U.S. outlet in this dataset; they do provide categorical placements (neutral/least biased/moderate) and traffic figures [3] [1] [2].