WATE media bias and reliability
Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place WATE in the centre. We have seen it on 89 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is WATE biased?
Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place WATE in the centre. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is WATE left or right?
Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check place WATE in the centre. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Centre.
Is WATE reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for WATE are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What WATE has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with WATE’s own report linked underneath.
Three NASA astronauts, Anil Menon, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, cast their ballots from the International Space Station during the United States midterm elections. They completed a Federal Post Card Application, transmitted an encrypted electronic ballot via NASA’s satellite network, and delivered it to the appropriate county clerk.
WATE reported it asHow NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins voted from outer space (opens WATE in a new tab)
Democrats achieved significant victories in states previously considered reliably Republican, including winning their first Texas Senate race in 38 years and unseating Governor Greg Abbott. These results are seen by some as a potential political shift, driven by factors like Donald Trump's unpopularity and voter concerns about the cost of living.
WATE reported it asBrent Taylor won two races. Here's what may happen now (opens WATE in a new tab)
Gold prices surpassed $4,000 per ounce and silver neared $52 as the US dollar index dropped to a five-week low. Markets reacted to potential Democratic control of Congress and geopolitical tensions.
WATE reported it asPolitical battleground map askew after Democratic wave in midterm elections (opens WATE in a new tab)
Democrats are projected to win a majority in the House of Representatives and have taken control of the Senate following the US midterm elections. The results mark a significant setback for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
WATE reported it asPolitical battleground map askew after Democratic wave in midterm elections (opens WATE in a new tab)
US President Donald Trump has announced that Washington will cease financial aid to Israel by the end of the year. The decision has drawn criticism from Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan and revealed surprise among Israeli defense and finance officials.
WATE reported it asTrump says US will cut off $4B in aid to Israel, blames bad 'talking point' (opens WATE in a new tab)
US news outlets will announce midterm election winners before all votes are tallied, using data from the Associated Press or Decision Desk HQ. These providers use vote counts, statistical analysis, and modeling to project outcomes, though past race calls have been retracted.
WATE reported it asThe 6 races that could decide Senate control (opens WATE in a new tab)
Control of the US Senate is expected to hinge on a handful of closely contested races in the upcoming midterm elections. Key battles in states like Michigan and Texas are drawing particular attention as indicators of broader political trends.
WATE reported it asSenate races to watch: 6 states shifting days before Election Day (opens WATE 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.
WATE reported it asPatrick Stewart, of ‘Star Trek’ and 'X-Men' fame, dies at 86 (opens WATE 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.
WATE reported it asAI giant Anthropic files to make stock market debut (opens WATE in a new tab)
US President Donald Trump confirmed he may move the White House press corps to a different location. He dismissed reports that he planned to remove the press room and restore a historic swimming pool, calling such an idea 'stupid'.
WATE reported it asNicki Minaj tells Trump she’ll support him if he runs again (opens WATE in a new tab)
Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out the Justice Department intervening to prevent states from certifying election results, describing potential scenarios as 'doomsday' situations. He stated such actions are not the department's intention but acknowledged hypothetical circumstances could lead to intervention.
WATE reported it asBlanche says DOJ could block election certification in 'doomsday scenario' (opens WATE in a new tab)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's staff damaged a World War II-era globe associated with Dwight D. Eisenhower while moving it to his Pentagon office. The artifact suffered a gash and its spherical portion detached from its mounting.
WATE reported it asHegseth’s team broke WWII-era globe from Eisenhower’s office (opens WATE in a new tab)
Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign has confirmed it produced an ad featuring his opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother. The ad includes criticism of Acton and insinuations about her mental health. The campaign plans a significant advertising spend around the video, which has drawn criticism.
WATE reported it asTrump on controversial Acton ad: ‘Why would you shield somebody from that?’ (opens WATE in a new tab)
The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, who challenged her dismissal by President Donald Trump. The court's decision upholds a lower court's ruling that validated Trump's executive authority in the firing.
WATE reported it asSupreme Court won’t revive Trump administration’s transgender inmate policy (opens WATE in a new tab)
Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher, has been released by Russia after nearly five years of detention. He was convicted of serving as a mercenary. The release was announced by former President Donald Trump, who stated Russia demanded nothing in return.
WATE reported it asRussia frees imprisoned American Stephen Hubbard, US envoy says (opens WATE in a new tab)
Meta temporarily suspended the Instagram account of the No Kings Coalition during nationwide protests. The company apologized, stating an automated security system mistakenly identified bot-like activity. The coalition criticized the timing and demanded an explanation.
WATE reported it asMeta apologizes for suspending 'No Kings' Instagram account, blaming bot traffic increase (opens WATE in a new tab)
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging a federal ban on distilling spirits in private homes, a law dating back to 1868. Conflicting lower court rulings have led to the case reaching the high court.
WATE reported it asSupreme Court to decide if 160-year-old home distilling ban is constitutional (opens WATE in a new tab)
Laken Snelling, a former University of Kentucky cheerleader, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the death of her newborn son. The baby's body was discovered in a closet in August 2025. Snelling pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including first-degree manslaughter.
WATE reported it asEx-University of Kentucky student allegedly leaves baby in closet trash bag: A look at the timeline, investigation (opens WATE in a new tab)
A 16-year-old gunman killed three children and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. The shooter, identified as John Griffin Jr. III, used a shotgun purchased by his mother and was killed by a bystander. Two others were critically injured.
WATE reported it as'We will come together': City of Bend mourns after deadly shooting at elementary school (opens WATE in a new tab)
Katie Zacharia, President Trump's new press secretary, has stated she is a lawyer. An investigation found no record of her being licensed to practice law in any US state or Washington D.C. She told reporters she passed the bar exam when she moved to China.
WATE reported it asZacharia confirms she did not pass bar exam (opens WATE 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.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
- Nexstar Media GroupMedia Conglomeratedirect owner
Where it publishes from
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
- 89
- Reports listed
- 92
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 7 August 2026
92 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.
A blindspot is measured against one side of the spectrum. WATE is rated centre, so there is no side for it to be counted against and we publish no figure here.
Across the 89 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, another outlet was always ahead of WATE: its report arrived a median of 27 hours after the earliest one we logged.
Measured 8 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 8 November 2026. Ratings pulled 10 October 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as WATE, 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 WATE 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.