The Independent media bias and reliability
AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place The Independent as leaning left. We have seen it on 774 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is The Independent biased?
AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place The Independent as leaning left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is The Independent left or right?
AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place The Independent as leaning left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is The Independent reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for The Independent are Ad Fontes Media: High factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: Mixed factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What The Independent has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with The Independent’s own report linked underneath.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice will investigate AI-related crimes but will not be a regulatory body for the technology. He accused Democrats of using the AI debate to influence the midterm elections and prefers a restrained approach to enforcement actions against AI companies.
The Independent reported it asTrump’s AG sparks concerns about boundaries with frequent political rally appearances (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Scientists are engineering soybeans with deeper root systems to improve climate resilience and enhance carbon sequestration. The Salk Institute, with funding from the Bezos Earth Fund, is leading this research, identifying and editing genes to promote root growth and carbon storage.
The Independent reported it asScientists hope deeper-rooted soybeans can withstand climate extremes and store more carbon (opens The Independent in a new tab)
In the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, juror Michael P. Desronvil was the sole holdout against an insanity acquittal, leading to an 11‑1 deadlock and a mistrial declared by Judge William Sullivan. Desronvil maintains prosecutors proved Clancy knowingly killed her three children.
The Independent reported it asHoldout juror in Lindsay Clancy trial breaks silence: ‘I didn’t have any doubts’ (opens The Independent in a new tab)
HarperCollins has confirmed it will no longer publish or sell David Walliams's entire back catalogue of books. The decision follows allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young women, which Walliams denies. Remaining copies will be withdrawn from sale.
The Independent reported it asHarperCollins to stop selling all remaining David Walliams books (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Researchers have identified a new wild cat species, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia's Yungas forest. The small feline, measuring about 45-46 cm and weighing 1.4 kg, is the first new wild cat species described in more than 100 years.
The Independent reported it asNew cat species identified for the first time in more than a century (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Russia's economy is experiencing growing friction due to extensive military spending, leading to a ballooning budget deficit, increased consumer and business pessimism, and slower growth. While economists do not anticipate an imminent financial crisis, long-term structural erosion is a concern.
The Independent reported it asRussia's wartime economy faces long-term erosion from debt and military spending (opens The Independent in a new tab)
President Donald Trump is hosting over 100 hunters and outdoor industry leaders for a White House dinner where he is expected to sign executive orders aimed at expanding access to public lands and waterways. The orders will also reverse certain Biden-era restrictions, including those on lead ammunition.
The Independent reported it asTrump tells outdoorsmen at White House dinner he is so powerful he could ban fishing (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Phil Klay, an award-winning author and Iraq War veteran, has been appointed the new president of PEN America. He succeeds Dinaw Mengestu, who resigned in July following a PEN report on the isolation of Jewish and Israeli writers. The organization has faced internal disagreements related to the Israel-Hamas war.
The Independent reported it asPrize-winning author Phil Klay takes over at PEN America amid Israel-Hamas war rifts (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin is set to visit UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham at No 10 North in Manchester. The meeting will focus on strengthening UK-Ireland relations, trade, security, and support for Ukraine.
The Independent reported it asTaoiseach to be first international leader to visit No 10 North (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a keynote address at a conference for the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, which he formerly chaired. He told attendees they had a friend in the Trump White House and highlighted administration actions to alter vaccine guidance.
The Independent reported it asKennedy tells anti-vaccine activists they have a friend in Trump's White House (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of experts monitoring sanctions on Iran. The vote creates a gap in oversight as the sanctions themselves remain in effect.
The Independent reported it asRussia and China veto US proposal for UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions on Iran (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, a former Connecticut budget official convicted of corruption, has fled the U.S. for Greece before his sentencing. He travelled by boat and plane, and his dual citizenship may prevent extradition.
The Independent reported it asEx-Connecticut official flees to Greece before sentencing for corruption (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Abu Zubaydah, held at Guantanamo Bay for two decades without charges, appeared at a hearing to review his detention. A U.S. official described him as a trusted facilitator for Osama bin Laden, while his attorneys argued he was never an al-Qaida member and poses no threat.
The Independent reported it asMan accused of ties to bin Laden and tortured after 9/11 has 20-year Guantanamo detention reviewed (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Lambeth Palace has revoked an award given to Muslim cleric Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi. The honour was for reconciliation and interfaith co-operation, but resurfaced comments from 2007 about Osama bin Laden led to its withdrawal.
The Independent reported it asLambeth Palace revokes award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Earl Charles Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' in a phone call shortly after Princess Diana's death in 1997. Buckingham Palace has responded, stating that grief can affect memory.
The Independent reported it asEarl Spencer’s book claims Charles acted like a ‘lottery winner’ after Diana’s death (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The removal of the last dam on Maine's Narraguagus River has created prime habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon. However, conservationists caution that climate change presents significant challenges to the species' long-term comeback.
The Independent reported it asEndangered salmon may soon swim freely up a Maine river, but a comeback isn’t guaranteed (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Far-left streamer Hasan Piker stated that the United States causes more deaths globally than al-Qaeda. His remarks have drawn criticism from Republicans and scrutiny for Democrats associated with him, including Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
The Independent reported it asHasan Piker says US ‘pound-for-pound’ is worse than al-Qaeda (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Israeli settlers celebrated the inauguration of a synagogue at the Homesh settlement in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian residents say the settlement restricts their access to farmland, and Israel's Supreme Court has acknowledged some land belonged to them.
The Independent reported it asIsraeli settlers, some armed, celebrate a new synagogue in the occupied West Bank, in photos (opens The Independent in a new tab)
President Donald Trump reportedly had a heated exchange with Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty during a Kennedy Center board call. A federal judge blocked attempts to add Trump's name to the building, a decision the Justice Department has appealed.
The Independent reported it asTrump spotted looking at ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLITION’ booklet (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Britain must become a naval superpower again or risk defeat against Russia, the head of the Navy has warned. General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said Russia is probing for weaknesses and could target vital underwater cables on day one of any future conflict.
The Independent reported it asNavy chief sends warning as Russia ‘probes for weakness’ (opens The Independent in a new tab)
Who says so
3 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
Who owns it
- Independent Digital News and Media LimitedCorporationdirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
- Official site
- independent.co.uk
- Seen publishing on
- independent.co.uk
- Access
- Metered: some articles are readable, some are not
- 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
- 774
- Reports listed
- 833
- We could read
- 36
- First seen
- 3 August 2026
797 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 36 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 181 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and The Independent ran the story anyway.
Across the 774 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than The Independent’s on 15 of them. Overall it filed a median of 15 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 18 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 18 September 2026. Ratings pulled 2 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as The Independent, also publishing from United Kingdom, 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 The Independent 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.