Associated Press

The AP describes its journalism as independent and nonpartisan, and its news values require balanced, impartial reporting and bar editorial staff from political activity.

Editorial record means the rating rests on the outlet's documented record, such as its editorial board's endorsements, the stated purpose it was founded for, its opinion lineup or its published commitments such as an ethics policy. Scope: Whole outlet · US politics. Confidence: high. What these mean

Evidence

• AP's About page calls it independent and nonpartisan and says it was founded as a news cooperative of US newspapers and broadcasters. “Independent, nonpartisan and accurate since 1846.”
• AP's statement of news values commits it to balanced, impartial reporting and says it abhors bias. “in a balanced and impartial way”
• AP's conflict-of-interest rules bar editorial staff from political activity and from declaring views on contentious public issues. “scrupulous in avoiding any political activity”

Limits of this rating

• No clear direction means AP's own policies document no political direction; it is not a finding that coverage is balanced, and it does not rate accuracy or every story.

First draft by Sol, our AI editor, on Nov 3, 2026. Rewritten and checked against the evidence pages by Claude, an AI system, which can change the draft's label. Accepted by our human editor on Nov 3, 2026, as part of a batch.

An outlet rating describes the publication as a whole, apart from anything listed under Limits of this rating. It never rates a single article; articles get their own "This article" rating.