El Universal media bias and reliability
AllSides places El Universal on the left. We have seen it on 12 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is El Universal biased?
AllSides places El Universal on the left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is El Universal left or right?
AllSides places El Universal on the left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is El Universal reliable?
We do not hold a factual-reliability assessment for El Universal. A political-leaning label would not answer that question on its own, so we do not infer reliability from left, centre or right.
What El Universal has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with El Universal’s own report linked underneath.
Russia launched missile and drone strikes on at least four Ukrainian regions, killing four people. Ukraine responded by damaging the Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
El Universal reported it asZelenski Offers Energy Truce to Russia and Hopes Trump Will Bring the Proposal to Putin (opens El Universal in a new tab)
Authorities arrested Jesús Antonio 'N', known as 'El Peli', an alleged operator for the 'Los Chapitos' faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, in Mazatlán. He is identified as a generator of violence and a key figure in the cartel's operations.
El Universal reported it as“El Peli”, Alleged Financial Operator of “Los Chapitos” Is Arrested in Mazatlan (opens El Universal in a new tab)
President Donald Trump cut short his weekend at Camp David to return to the White House on Saturday. The move coincided with a US security alert warning of potential rapid escalation in the Middle East due to the Saudi-Houthi conflict.
El Universal reported it asWhite House Launches Trump TV, After Veto to Media; Will Broadcast the Events of the President, 24/7 (opens El Universal in a new tab)
The United States has imposed new sanctions on eight Cuban companies and three military officers. The companies are linked to mineral exploitation, including nickel extraction, and military research and development. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the sanctions aim to prevent Cuban resources from sustaining the security apparatus.
El Universal reported it asEU Announces Sanctions Against Cuban Military Companies; Includes Nickel Sector (opens El Universal in a new tab)
US President Donald Trump announced significant progress toward establishing a US military base in Poland. He stated the location would be announced soon and described the potential base as a historic step for the US-Poland alliance. Polish President Karol Nawrocki was credited for his leadership.
El Universal reported it asU.S. Is Close to Establishing a Military Base in Poland, Trump Announces; It Would Reinforce Deterrence Against Russia (opens El Universal in a new tab)
A 21-year-old Spanish student, Claudia Tacoronte, was murdered in Mexico on Saturday, September 12. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Álvarez has called for justice and a full investigation, with Mexican authorities examining the case under the protocol for femicide.
El Universal reported it asSpanish Student Killed During Assault in Morelos (opens El Universal in a new tab)
The Anak Krakatau volcano erupted on September 4-5, 2026, with an ash column observed by satellite. Loud booms were heard up to 150km away, and Indonesian authorities placed the volcano under Alert Level III, prohibiting access within a 3km radius.
El Universal reported it asIndonesia Cancels All Flights at Jakarta Airport; Anak Krakatau Volcano Erupts (opens El Universal in a new tab)
Eight Indonesian airports, including Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma, were closed on 7 September due to ash from the Mount Anak Krakatau eruption. The transport ministry reported 170,000 people were affected by flight cancellations.
El Universal reported it asIndonesia Cancels All Flights at Jakarta Airport; Anak Krakatau Volcano Erupts (opens El Universal in a new tab)
The US military has deployed laser technology along the US-Mexico border, downing 11 cartel drones assessed as associated with illicit activity. Reports vary on the total number of drones downed in August, with some citing up to 100.
El Universal reported it asUS Knocks Down at Least 100 Drones of Cartels on Mexico’s Border, Fox News Reports (opens El Universal in a new tab)
Luis Manuel Aviles, father of a US Navy sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, was released from immigration detention. His case was dismissed by an immigration judge, prompting a congressional investigation into his arrest during a federal immigration crackdown.
El Universal reported it asU.S. Authorities Release the Father of a Sailor After Being Arrested by the Border Patrol (opens El Universal in a new tab)
Iranian state media broadcast a video that allegedly suggests how to kill Barron Trump and offers a $10 million bounty for information. The Secret Service confirmed it is aware of the video and investigating the threats.
El Universal reported it asU.S. Secret Service, Aware of Iranian Video Threatening Trump's Son; Avoid Comments on Protective Intelligence (opens El Universal in a new tab)
New Mexico filed a federal lawsuit against the US Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, accusing them of withholding unredacted files critical to its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The state says repeated requests for information were ignored or denied, hindering its probe into alleged sex crimes.
El Universal reported it asNew Mexico Sues Department of Justice for Allegedly Blocking Investigation Into Epstein (opens El Universal in a new tab)
Who says so
One organisation has published a rating for this outlet. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
- AllSidesleftCheck it
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
We hold no factual-reliability rating for this outlet.
Who owns it
We hold no ownership record for El Universal.
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Official site
- eluniversal.com.mx
- Seen publishing on
- eluniversal.com.mx
- Access
- Free to read
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 12
- Reports listed
- 12
- We could read
- 3
- First seen
- 6 August 2026
9 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 3 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 5 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and El Universal ran the story anyway.
Across the 12 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than El Universal’s on 2 of them. Overall it filed a median of 17 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 24 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 23 September 2026. Ratings pulled 9 September 2026.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where El Universal publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.