Apple News Leaning Left, Investigation Claims
A recent investigation has raised eyebrows, revealing that Apple’s news app tends to promote stories from left-leaning news sources while largely excluding conservative ones.
The Media Research Center, a conservative group focused on media bias, examined 620 articles featured on Apple News during peak morning hours throughout January. Unlike some platforms that rely on algorithms, the Apple News feed is curated by in-house editors.
Out of the analyzed articles, 440 were from outlets viewed as left-wing, with only 180 from centrist sources. Surprisingly, right-leaning organizations including The Post faced complete exclusion.
Specifically, in January, Apple News highlighted 72 articles from The Washington Post, 54 from Associated Press, and 50 from NBC News, among others. Notably, The Post and Fox News had no articles featured at all.
The researchers used media bias assessments created by AllSides, an organization that employs a bipartisan team trained to identify bias in media.
Though AllSides did not participate in the MRC study, their director was not surprised by the findings. Julie Masteen remarked that people relying on major tech platforms aren’t receiving a well-rounded news perspective.
As of this Monday, there hadn’t been a single right-leaning publication in Apple News’ top stories for 96 days. MRC noted that before this stretch, the last right-leaning article appeared on November 5, discussing the civil war in Sudan.
The MRC also pointed out that the coverage during that period often portrayed President Trump’s immigration and foreign policies negatively, picking headlines that seemed to challenge his actions.
Dan Schneider from MRC highlighted that many people may not even realize they’re receiving predominantly left-leaning news, given that nearly half of Americans aged 18 and over own an iPhone, which comes with Apple News preinstalled.
A 2023 AllSides study categorized Apple News as “left-leaning,” with Yahoo News and Bing News also being identified as biased towards liberal viewpoints in their article curation.
Masteen acknowledged that right-leaning media is significantly underrepresented. The MRC tracked articles from AllSides-rated news outlets, checking Apple News regularly to ensure consistent results.
The 620 articles they analyzed included 30 from The Athletic, part of The New York Times, which stopped contributing to Apple News in 2020. Additionally, 27 pieces categorized as Apple original content mostly linked to the Apple News Today podcast.
Schneider referred to this situation as subliminal propaganda, implying it could violate legal standards given that it appears to promote particular narratives without transparency regarding funding.
These allegations might bring challenges for Apple and CEO Tim Cook. Following his re-election, Cook has been seen as having a favorable stance toward Trump, coinciding with federal scrutiny aimed at addressing media bias in big tech.
Recently, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson initiated an inquiry into technology censorship to understand how companies might be suppressing voices. Furthermore, the FTC cleared a significant merger in the advertising sector under conditions to avoid politically-motivated advertising boycotts.
In a related note, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized comments made by Jimmy Kimmel regarding a conservative influencer’s situation, reflecting heightened tensions related to media representation in political discourse.
