"Fair and Balanced" Is a Lie – Here’s Where to Find the Truth Instead

There’s this tired little phrase that keeps getting dragged out of the media graveyard like it's still got a pulse: “fair and balanced.”

Back in the day, that might’ve sounded noble – like someone out there was trying to tell the truth without playing favorites. But then Fox News got a hold of it, stapled it to a Confederate flag, ran it through a focus group of climate deniers, and used it to justify platforming white nationalists in prime time.

So now?
“Fair and balanced” mostly just means:
“We’re gonna tell you what someone's drunkle at Thanksgiving thinks, even if he’s three bourbons deep and quoting QAnon.”

Let’s be clear:
Good journalism isn’t about pretending both sides always have a point.
It’s about telling the damn truth.

And sometimes?
The truth picks a side.
Not because it's biased,
but because reality isn't a debate stage.

We don’t need news that treats conspiracy theories and expert analysis like they're co-equal.

We don’t need reporters who ask politicians, “How do you respond to people who say the Earth is flat?”

And we definitely don’t need another breathless both-sides article about whether trans people deserve rights. (They do.That’s the whole story.)

What we need is journalism that has the backbone to call a lie a lie,
to stop amplifying fascists just for ratings,
and to remember that neutrality in the face of injustice isn't noble –
it’s cowardice in a suit.

So, if you're tired of mainstream media laundering disinformation under the guise of “balance,” here are ten places to get actual news, no both-sides circus required.

10 Online News Sources That Still Give a Damn About the Truth:

1. ProPublica – Investigative journalism that follows the money and names names.
   https://www.propublica.org/

2. AP News (Associated Press) – Straightforward reporting, no frills, no spin.
   https://apnews.com/

3. Reuters – Global perspective, rigorous fact-checking, and zero tolerance for nonsense.
   https://www.reuters.com/

4. NPR News – Balanced doesn’t mean gutless. NPR often nails context, nuance, and clarity.
   https://www.npr.org/sections/news/

5. BBC News – A wider lens helps you see how the rest of the world reports on us.
   https://www.bbc.com/news

6. The Marshall Project – Focused on criminal justice – no sensationalism, just the hard truths.
   https://www.themarshallproject.org/

7. The Guardian (US Edition) – Strong on politics, climate, and global justice reporting.
   https://www.theguardian.com/us

8. STAT News – Science and health journalism done right (especially during pandemics and political misinformation).
   https://www.statnews.com/

9. The 19^th – Reporting at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy.
   https://19thnews.org/

10. Democracy Now! – Unapologetically independent and committed to stories that other outlets bury.
    https://www.democracynow.org/

I'm not saying these are all of them. I'm not even necessarily saying these are the best of them. I'm just saying these are some of them that I like.

If your news starts with “some people are saying,”
and ends with a panel of angry pundits yelling over each other,
that’s not reporting.
That’s infotainment for people who confuse volume and repetition with truth.

You deserve better.
Democracy requires better.
And Love (the justice-soaked, truth-telling kind) demands better.

So ditch the both-sides baloney.
Pull up a chair.
And feast on some actual facts for once.