The West Australian media bias and reliability
Media Bias/Fact Check places The West Australian as leaning right. We have seen it on 397 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is The West Australian biased?
Media Bias/Fact Check places The West Australian as leaning right. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is The West Australian left or right?
Media Bias/Fact Check places The West Australian as leaning right. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Right.
Is The West Australian reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for The West Australian are Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What The West Australian has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with The West Australian’s own report linked underneath.
Imperial Oil announced a third-quarter profit of $2.45 billion, a significant increase from $539 million in the same period last year. The company's results were bolstered by rising oil prices and improved refining margins, while upstream production saw a slight decrease.
The West Australian reported it asAussie shares drop ahead of interest rates decision (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Donald Trump has stated he believes a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is nearing completion. He suggested a deal could be finalized at the G20 summit in December, which is scheduled to take place at his resort in Doral, Florida.
The West Australian reported it as'Very close to having a deal' with Canada: Trump (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
A Yemeni staff member of the UN Human Rights Office, Mohammad el Shami, has died in Houthi custody. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling for an independent investigation into his death.
The West Australian reported it asUN demands probe into death of worker in Houthi custody (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
North Korea's defense research institutes have tested a cluster bomb warhead intended for tactical ballistic missiles. State media reported the weapon can destroy an area of up to 13 hectares, and Pyongyang plans to equip military units with various types by the end of 2026.
The West Australian reported it asNorth Korea tests another powerful weapons system (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
A federal judge has dismissed Donald Trump's lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch. The case concerned a story about Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein and a sexually suggestive birthday letter. The judge found Trump did not prove actual malice.
The West Australian reported it asTrump's lawsuit over Epstein birthday letter dismissed (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Russia vetoed a US-drafted resolution aimed at ending the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara and establishing a new political one. A subsequent Russian proposal to extend the existing mission for a year also failed to pass.
The West Australian reported it asPeacekeeping mission in limbo as nations spar at UN (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
The United States cancelled a planned group photo at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta due to deep rifts among member nations. Several European diplomats objected to standing alongside Russia's top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, leading to the cancellation.
The West Australian reported it asUS urges world powers to co-operate amid war rifts (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
A vessel caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil trade route. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed three oil tankers hit mines, but the status of the crew and the cause of the fires remain unclear.
The West Australian reported it asThree tankers catch fire in Strait of Hormuz: Iran navy (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a potential security issue on its platform. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle have frozen billions of dollars in assets connected to the incident, while Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao stated user funds remain safe.
The West Australian reported it asBinance freezes $A3.6b in assets over suspected hack (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Patrick Stewart, the British actor famous for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 'Star Trek' and Professor Charles Xavier in 'X-Men', has died at the age of 86. His death was announced by his family.
The West Australian reported it asStar Trek star Patrick Stewart dies at 86 (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
US Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, in an effort to restart peace negotiations and prevent potential US bombings. President Donald Trump has denied directing Vance to initiate these talks.
The West Australian reported it asVance outreach to Iran related to medical supplies: US (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
A US judge has ordered Donald Trump to produce documents by November 23 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The judge warned that failure to comply could result in sanctions, including the dismissal of his case.
The West Australian reported it asTrump's BBC lawsuit could be dismissed, judge warns (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Tehran is in close contact with mediators regarding a seven-day plan to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump denied directing peace talks but approved outreach for medical supplies.
The West Australian reported it asIran sees 'only unacceptable ideas' in new draft deal (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
AI company Anthropic has filed for an initial public offering on Nasdaq, warning investors about potential catastrophic or existential risks to humanity from advanced AI systems. The company detailed these concerns in its IPO paperwork, dedicating a significant portion to risk factors.
The West Australian reported it as‘Total control’: Anthropic attacked over IPO plan (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Moscow for talks, with assurances of safety. Ukrainian officials confirmed Zelensky's readiness for a meeting and a partial ceasefire, though they noted Russia's continued attacks.
The West Australian reported it asTwo leaders urge Putin to end Ukraine war in rare call (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
US stock indexes, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, opened higher on Tuesday. Easing oil prices and anticipation of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision influenced market sentiment, alongside a focus on corporate earnings, particularly those related to artificial intelligence.
The West Australian reported it asWall St advances as oil eases ahead of Fed decision (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Four crew members have completed a 378-day simulated mission to Mars at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The experiment aimed to study the effects of isolation and prepare for future human expeditions to the Red Planet.
The West Australian reported it asSimulated Mars crew to emerge after year confined (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
Asian stock markets saw a significant rise following Anthropic's initial public offering filing, which disclosed strong revenue growth alongside substantial losses. Meta Platforms' large equity fundraising also contributed to the positive sentiment.
The West Australian reported it asAsian stocks surge as Anthropic IPO lifts sentiment (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
An independent UN investigations panel has concluded that Russia is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by intentionally attacking Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, particularly its energy systems. The report details the intent behind these attacks and their severe impact on the civilian population.
The West Australian reported it asRussia committed war crimes in Ukraine, UN inquiry says (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
The USS Colorado will be the first US submarine deployed to Australia under the AUKUS security pact. It will be based at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia from late 2027 as part of the Submarine Rotational Force-West initiative.
The West Australian reported it asFirst AUKUS nuclear sub to come to Australia revealed (opens The West Australian 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.
- Media Bias/Fact CheckleanRightCheck 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.
High factuality
- Media Bias/Fact CheckhighCheck it
Who owns it
- Seven West Mediaunknowndirect owner
- Seven Group Holdingsunknownparent group
- Kerry StokesBillionaireparent group
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Osborne Park, City of Stirling, Western Australia, Australia
- Official site
- thewest.com.au
- Seen publishing on
- thewest.com.au
- Access
- Paywalled
- 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
- 397
- Reports listed
- 418
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 3 August 2026
418 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 100 of those stories, outlets rated right were largely absent from the coverage and The West Australian ran the story anyway.
Across the 397 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than The West Australian’s on 2 of them. Overall it filed a median of 25 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 2 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 2 November 2026. Ratings pulled 2 November 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 The West Australian 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.