Esquire is an American-based magazine targeting a male audience. It was founded in 1933 and maintains both a physical and online presence.
Although Esquire is a magazine, it still publishes works relating to current news events. According to Biasly, Esquire is rated as Very Liberal when it comes to news bias.
Source: Pew Research
According to Pew Research, the percentage of American adults who prefer print publications for news stands at 5% while those who prefer digital devices came in at 56%. Considering the fact that Esquire has adopted digital media alongside its physical magazine presence, it becomes more important to analyze their possible biases.
How Does Biasly Rate News Sources?
Biasly’s algorithms produce bias ratings to help provide multiple perspectives on given articles. Biasly has analyzed 200,000+ news articles from more than 3,200 news sources through our A.I. technology and team of political analysts to find the most factual, unbiased news stories.
Biasly determines the degree of political bias in news sources by using Biasly’s Bias Meter Rating, in which Biasly’s team analyzes media sources’ reliability and bias and produces three scores, a Reliability Score that measures the accuracy of media sources; an A.I. Bias Score, evaluated by A.I.; and an Analyst Bias Score evaluated by political analysts. These scores are rated based on seven rating metrics including Tone, Tendency, Diction, Author Check, Selection/Omission, Expediency Bias, and Accuracy. These metrics help our analysts to determine the political attitude of the article.
Our A.I. machine-learning system employs natural language processing and entity-specific sentiment analysis to examine individual articles and determine their bias levels. By analyzing the key terms in an article such as policies, bias phrases, political terminologies, politicians, and their nicknames, the algorithms can rate the attitude of the text. Bias scores range from -100% and 100%, with higher negative scores being more liberal higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral.
Is Esquire Politically Biased?
Biasly’s rating for Esquire gives the magazine a Computer AI Bias Score of Very Liberal, a score generated by its AI-based algorithms. Biasly’s AI bias analysis focuses on the leaning of tone, opinion, and diction of the author, and, their respective tendencies. For example, Biasly rated its abortion and affirmative action policies as Very Liberal. It also found that Esquire was reporting negatively about politicians who are considered conservative such as education secretary Besty DeVos and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Biasly has assigned a Very Liberal rating as the Analyst Bias Score. Typically, alongside the Computer Bias Score, Biasly presents an Analyst Bias Score. This score is curated based on a review of at least 15 articles by a team of analysts representing liberal, moderate, and conservative viewpoints. Different types of bias in articles, preferences for liberal or conservative politicians and policies, all factor into generating these scores. The more articles the Biasly analyst team reviews and rates, the more precise the analyst score becomes.
Before we begin, we need to discuss bias. Bias is a natural function of humans, and we can express it both consciously and unconsciously. Bias is one of the most fundamental forms of pattern recognition in humans. This isn’t to lower the bar and say that “all things are biased,” but to explain the process in which we may come to trust certain news organizations that display patterns of coverage.
On the media’s part, there is an incentive to retain audiences, encourage them to purchase subscriptions, and rate products positively. Bias is a two-way street, people want to see news stories about things they care about, and the media needs viewers to continue their operations. This creates a positive feedback loop that influences what stories are covered and from what perspective. This also explains the actions of more liberal news organizations.
Analysis of Bias in Esquire Online Articles
In another Pew Research study, the center compared views on news bias between the American public and American-based journalists. 55% of journalists state that not every side deserves equal coverage in the news. 22% of the American public agrees with that statement. However, 76% of the public wants journalists to try and provide equal coverage of all sides. It can be alarming to see that those who provide the public with news do not believe in being fair and centered when it comes to covering the news. It exposes the risk of bias in their reporting and can easily find its way into their work. When news media reaches millions and serves as a point of communication between politics, policy, and government and the American public, such sentiments should not be held by more than half of American journalists.
Source: Pew Research
When determining bias, some of the most common metrics used include Tone, Tendency, Author, Diction, and Expediency Bias, which are the primary metrics we’ll focus on below.
- Tone: This represents the attitude of the writing, formed distinctively but related to the author’s word choices or diction.
- Diction: The specific words chosen by the writer.
- Author: A metric related to the article’s author, taking into account their history of stance on issues based on past articles and social media posts.
- Tendency measures how consistently an author shows bias in their work, including factors like their tone and perspective.
- Expediency Bias relates to the immediate impression created by elements like the article’s headline, images, or summary, indicating if they favor a particular viewpoint.
Source: Esquire
An article we will examine is titled, “10 Republicans Will Not Vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, and It’s Easy to See Why.” Although the headline does not show much bias, the subtitle and the contents of the article show a left-leaning bias that attacks Republican logic and puts down the arguments of Republican Senators in an effort to show them as partisan actors.
According to Biasly’s analysis, the article experienced serious issues with tone, tendency, diction, and the author’s background. All three categories were near the maximum negative score.
“If they hold to that, which they should for the sake of the country, it’s impossible to see why 10 Republicans would vote for The Deal.”
“Democrats should write a reconciliation bill that contains all their infrastructure priorities, pass it through both houses of Congress with or without Republican votes,”
As shown by the two quotes above, there is purposeful word choice that encourages Democratic lawmakers to do whatever it takes to pass the bill, even if it means no Republican support. The tone and diction in these quotes and throughout the article reflect support for Democrats to pass the bill and take full credit for it. Using word choice such as “sake of the country” and acknowledging that there is no need for Republican support further establish a liberal bias to the article. We can assume the author would like to see Democrats take credit for the bill in order to improve their standing with the public and boost the image of Democratic President Joe Biden.
“And Jesus, get some muscle in that climate spending.”
The quote above may be the most glaring example of liberal bias in the article. Although it does attack Democrats, it is a clear push of what can be considered a liberal-leaning agenda. Openly supporting a policy issue while writing about a bill is an unprofessional way of reporting. Rather than keeping their beliefs aside, the author chooses to add it to their work and exposes readers to bias. These choices explain why the article scored poorly and also contribute to Esquire’s Very Liberal rating.
When it comes to authors of articles, it is important to analyze their activity online and determine if there is a possible connection to bias. Jack Holmes has an active online presence and has posted questionable content on multiple occasions. His feed consists of tweets he has made under his own opinions. There are reposts and tweets of his promoting the work of other journalists and sporting news, and telling his followers about his upcoming engagements. However, some tweets create cause for concern.
Biden’s speeches are now a cultural event like Trump’s were in 2016, except the Daily Mail is hoping he’ll have a Moment they can jump on pic.twitter.com/PE0k6cCUj0
— Jack Holmes (@jackholmes0) July 13, 2024
As seen in this tweet, Holmes expresses indirect support for Joe Biden. Attempting to claim that the President brings in as many viewers as former President Trump shows a comparison aiming to change Biden’s public perception for the better. He also bashes the Daily Mail, which is livestreaming the event, claiming they are looking for a Biden slip-up.
In some instances, biased news outlets do demonstrate the ability to report news neutrally. For example, “The Pentagon’s Sword of Armageddon Will Fly in 2023”, is rated by Biasly analysts as neutral.
“there are 400 missiles located in hardened silos scattered across the West—are reaching the ends of their serviceable lives.”
“Northrop is developing GBSD using digital engineering techniques, which lets contractors make the missile faster and study different configurations without actually building them.”
As the quotes above show, there is no tilt in tone or diction. The author chooses neutral words and directly reports on developments regarding the Pentagon’s new weapons system and the chronological timeline of the project. There is no rhetoric that hints at critiquing the relationship between the military and private industry or military spending in the U.S. It is a good example of what news outlets should do when reporting on news while avoiding bias.
Both articles show that a news outlet can be inconsistent with its bias. Although Esquire is rated as Very Liberal by both Biasly’s computer algorithm and analysts, there are times when the outlet is able to show it can appropriately report on the news without showing as much bias.
Analysis of Esquire News Articles
News articles are a common form of media that people use to become informed on issues. With social media, new articles spread faster than ever. Due to this, it is important to analyze possible biases in news articles that Esquire publishes. For example, Esquire published an article titled, “Greg Abbott Has Jumped Aboard the White History Matters Bandwagon.” It was a lengthy article covering the governor’s policies while also including the author’s personal opinions. The author constantly puts down Republicans and is very direct about their intentions in showing their liberal bias.
In another article called, “This Country Has Grown Too Comfortable With the Specter of the Gun in Its Political Life”, the author writes about guns in America while also attacking conservatives. The author says that the entire right side of the political spectrum has embraced militias and blamed them all for the events of January 6th, 2021. The author writes in such a way as to push favoritism toward liberals while painting all conservatives as bad people.
Both articles show that Biasly meets the Very Liberal rating given by Biasly. Most of their news articles use strong language and have authors inject their own opinions while reporting on current events. Because of this, readers can find it hard to receive accurate news from Esquire. Unfortunately, the outlet seems committed to reporting on the news while pushing a left-leaning agenda meant to put down conservatives.
Who Owns Esquire?
Esquire is currently run by editor-in-chief Micheal Sebastian. The magazine is published by Hearst Communications. It was founded by David Smart, Henry Jackson, and Arnold Gingrich. In the context of this article, Henry Jackson and David Smart were influential in deciding the political tilt of the magazine. It was said that Jackson had Republican views while Smart was considered a liberal Democrat. This sets the foundation for Esquire’s rating as Very Liberal, showing they have moved away from a position that seemed to incorporate both sides.
Arnold Gingrich, editor of the Ken Magazine in 1938, Source: Wikipedia
There is not much information about the background of Michael Sebastian. However, a search on Esquire’s website shows he has published an extensive amount of work with the magazine, focusing on lifestyle rather than news and politics.
How to Evaluate and Uncover Bias
It can often be difficult to tell if the news you watch is biased. If you have settled on a news channel, it’s usually because you trust the information you are gaining. Unfortunately, many trust the information they are hearing because it confirms what they already believe. This is referred to as “confirmation bias.” It is important to challenge your beliefs and get third-party verification that what you are hearing is the full story. This is why we recommend using Biasly to compare different news stories side-by-side using our bias ratings to figure out what both sides think of a political issue.
The appearance of bias in news can vary depending on the author or objective of the article. Esquire represents both sides of news reporting. Although Biasly rates Esquire as Very Liberal, there are instances where Esquire has shown it can publish center articles. The changes in bias are why it is important to use Biasly’s News Check to see if an article provides accurate and unbiased news.