National Review (Opinion)

About National Review (Opinion)'s Bias Rating

National Review (Opinion) is featured on the AllSides Media Bias Chart™.

National Review (Opinion) is a news media source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Right.

This rating is for opinion content appearing on NationalReview.com. AllSides rates National Review's news content separately. Note that the majority of National Review's content is analysis and opinion content.

What a "Right" Rating Means

Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Right display media bias in ways that strongly align with conservative, traditional, or right-wing thought and/or policy agendas. A Right bias is the most conservative rating on the political spectrum.

National Review Opinion Rated Right in Sept. 2023 Editorial Review

While AllSides previously rated all of National Review as Right, in Sept. 2023, National Review's news content was rated Lean Right in an Editorial Review by a multipartisan panel of six AllSides reviewers. The AllSides team opted to rate National Review's opinion content separately as Right, and created this source page. What this means: Any content appearing in National Review's section explicitly labeled "News" had a Lean Right bias overall (some individual content varied), and any opinion and some analysis content was generally Right biased. Note that the majority of National Review's content is analysis and opinion content.

The panel agreed that content in National Review's "News" section showed Lean Right story choice bias but opinion/analysis content had a Right bias. National Review sometimes used sensationalist words such as "blasts," and showed Lean Right word choice bias such as "illegal immigration," a term not used by the left. 

A Center reviewer noted that National Review was "in general, staunchly pro life, pro-Republican, against “trans ideology," pro-free market, nationalistic"; a Lean Right reviewer said they are "anti-Trump, anti-covid lockdowns/restrictions, pro-segregation of spaces and sports by sex, anti-open borders."

Content reviewed included but was not limited to:

• Progressives Give Eric Adams the Trump Treatment for Refusing to Ignore NYC’s Migrant Crisis
• Why Not Arrest Governor Lujan Grisham?
• Yes, Joe Biden Is Corrupt
• Harvard’s Former President Unwittingly Indicts Campus Radicalism
• What Are Men For?
• Union Battles Expose Cracks in Democratic Coalition
• Donald Trump’s Appetite for Destruction

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As of May 2024, people have voted on the AllSides Media Bias Rating for National Review (Opinion). On average, those who disagree with our rating think this source has a Center bias.

As of May 2024, AllSides has medium confidence in our Right rating for National Review (Opinion). An Editorial Review or Blind Bias Survey has affirmed this rating, or multiple reviews have returned differing results. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

The National Review is a bi-weekly conservative magazine founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1955. Buckley started the magazine with the goal of making conservative ideas respectable at a time in which he believed “literate America [had] rejected conservatism in favor of radical social experimentation.” 

During the magazine’s early years, it aimed to fuse different schools of conservative thought in order to combat what were perceived as their common opponents. In addition to the magazine, free content is produced on the website National Review Online. The website features a digital version of the magazine, articles updated daily by National Review writers, and posts from several blogs including The Corner, and Bench Memos. 

Third Party Claims of Bias and Misinformation

Some on the left, such as a writer at The New Republic, have called The National Review the "bible of American conservatism."

At times, National Review has been accused of spreading misinformation. In 2020, a National Review article incorrectly described a former Kamala Harris staffer as the Twitter employee who decided to suspend former President Donald Trump from the platform. The writer later apologized.

In a conversation published by the American Enterprise Institute in 2022, National Review was described as especially “central” to “both the intellectual and the political fortunes of the conservative movement.” 

In this conversation, National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru said the magazine “midwifed and nurtured the modern conservative movement into being,” adding that it steered American conservatism toward “constructivity.” Ponnuru also said he thought National Review would “be among the many people who will try to articulate” and defend “sensible and intelligent” immigration policy for the Republican Party. 

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