SFist media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give SFist one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. We have seen it on 17 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is SFist biased?
The rating organisations do not give SFist one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is SFist left or right?
The rating organisations do not give SFist one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is SFist reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for SFist are Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What SFist has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with SFist’s own report linked underneath.
Stanford University's Residential & Dining Enterprises used AI to alter a promotional photo, replacing a Latino student with an AI-generated Black woman and digitally slimming other students. The student stated the changes made him feel 'silenced and erased'.
SFist reported it asStanford Receives Backlash For Replacing Latino Student In Photo With AI-Generated Black Student (opens SFist in a new tab)
President Donald Trump vetoed CNN, Politico, and MS NOW, impacting audiovisual coverage of his UN trip. In response, CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox halted their joint television coverage of Trump, citing solidarity with the banned outlets.
SFist reported it asDay Around the Bay: BART's 2026 Ugly Holiday Sweater Is On Sale (opens SFist in a new tab)
A manhunt is underway in Placer County, California, for Derek Spencer, 44, who is wanted for multiple felonies including pointing a firearm at people. Residents were advised to shelter in place as authorities searched for the armed and dangerous suspect.
SFist reported it asMan Shot By Deputies In Placer County After Alleged Rampage, Arson Fires, Killing of Woman (opens SFist in a new tab)
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order mandating state agencies to develop recommendations for strengthening AI safety laws. The order calls for a team of experts to propose new regulations within two months, potentially including a 'kill switch' for AI programs.
SFist reported it asNewsom Orders Formation of State AI Panel to Study 'Kill Switch' Options, Safety Issues (opens SFist in a new tab)
Apple CEO John Ternus posted a cryptic video ahead of the company's expected iPhone 18 Pro unveiling. The video appears to hint at a new variable aperture camera feature for the device, which is set to be announced alongside new Apple Watch models.
SFist reported it asApple Unveils iPhone Duo, Its First Foldable, at $1,999 (opens SFist in a new tab)
Apple has launched its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, at its 'Surprise and Shine' event. The company also introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. This marks the first major product launch under new CEO John Ternus.
SFist reported it asApple Debuts Its First Foldable iPhone — Don't Call It a Flip Phone! (opens SFist in a new tab)
AI company Anthropic has blocked researchers from using its models for work that could potentially aid biological weapons development. The company stated it could not determine if the research served a legitimate scientific purpose or malicious intent, citing attempts to circumvent restrictions and obscure research goals.
SFist reported it asAnthropic Says It Shut Down Several Efforts to Use Claude to Develop Biological Weapons (opens SFist in a new tab)
A 27-year-old British researcher, Jacob Coxon, has resigned from Anthropic and the AI industry, citing concerns over the rapid, irresponsible development of self-improving superintelligence. He fears this race poses a significant risk to humanity, with some reports suggesting an existential threat by the end of the decade.
SFist reported it asAnthropic Researcher Says There’s 10% Chance of AI Killing ‘All Humans’ Within 10 Years (opens SFist in a new tab)
An Anthropic researcher has warned of a greater than 10% chance of AI causing human extinction in the next ten years. The warning follows a colleague's resignation over concerns about reckless AI development.
SFist reported it asAnthropic Researcher Says There’s 10% Chance of AI Killing ‘All Humans’ Within 10 Years (opens SFist in a new tab)
Jacob Coxon, a researcher formerly with OpenAI and Anthropic, has resigned, stating that leading AI developers are acting irresponsibly and "gambling with our lives." His departure has drawn comparisons to the Skynet scenario from the Terminator film.
SFist reported it asAnthropic Researcher Says There’s 10% Chance of AI Killing ‘All Humans’ Within 10 Years (opens SFist in a new tab)
Jacob Coxon has resigned from AI company Anthropic, warning that the rapid development of artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to humanity. His departure and warnings have been reported across several outlets, highlighting concerns about AI safety and the race for superintelligence.
SFist reported it asAnthropic Researcher Says There’s 10% Chance of AI Killing ‘All Humans’ Within 10 Years (opens SFist in a new tab)
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent left a firearm unattended in a San Francisco International Airport restroom on July 21. The gun was found by a flight attendant, leading to the closure of the stall and a police response. The agent later retrieved the weapon.
SFist reported it asICE Agent’s Gun Found In SFO Restroom Day Before Ukrainian Woman’s Arrest (opens SFist in a new tab)
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2624, expanding California's Safe at Home program to include immigration non-profit providers. The bill, nicknamed the 'Stop Nick Shirley Act' by opponents, aims to protect these workers from doxxing and harassment.
SFist reported it asNewsom Signs Bill to Protect Immigration Non-Profit Workers from Doxxing (opens SFist in a new tab)
Florida voters choose nominees on 20 August 2026 to replace term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis and to complete Marco Rubio’s unexpired U.S. Senate term. The state’s first congressional primaries under a new Republican-drawn map will also take place.
SFist reported it asRace to Replace Eric Swalwell In Congress Turns Ugly as Voters Head to Polls Once More (opens SFist in a new tab)
A federal lawsuit filed against Palo Alto Unified School District accuses the district of violating constitutional limits on religious instruction during a mosque visit. The plaintiffs, including Jewish, Hindu and Zoroastrian families, say female students were encouraged to wear hijabs and photographs were published without consent.
SFist reported it asParents Sue Palo Alto School Over Social Justice Field Trip to Mosque, Allege Preference For Islam (opens SFist in a new tab)
A Venezuelan national, Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, was charged with murder after allegedly stabbing a 68-year-old retiree during a burglary in Martinez, California. He had been released from custody one day earlier, despite an active immigration detainer. The case has drawn scrutiny over California's sanctuary policies and judicial release decisions.
SFist reported it asMartinez Murder Suspect Was a Successful Engineer With Spanish Citizenship; Trump's DHS Says He Slipped Through Sanctuary Law (opens SFist in a new tab)
Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta’s $1bn 'Future is for Everyone Fund' to support communities hosting data centres, alongside plans to offer free AI tools to billions. The essay also outlined a vision for personal AI agents and open-source models, while addressing concerns about job displacement and privacy.
SFist reported it asMark Zuckerberg Pens Arguably Out of Touch and Self-Serving Manifesto About the Future of AI (opens SFist in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
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.
High factuality
- Media Bias/Fact CheckhighCheck it
Who owns it
- Impress3 Mediaunknowndirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, United States
- Official site
- sfist.com
- Seen publishing on
- sfist.com
- Access
- Free to read
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
- 17
- Reports listed
- 17
- We could read
- 1
- First seen
- 13 August 2026
16 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 1 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 4 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and SFist ran the story anyway.
Across the 17 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, another outlet was always ahead of SFist: its report arrived a median of 28 hours after the earliest one we logged.
Measured 27 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 27 September 2026. Ratings pulled 12 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as SFist, also publishing from United States, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
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 SFist 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.