Apple News continues trend of promoting majority left-leaning outlets in feed

In total, researchers identified 592 articles with bias ratings from AllSides. Of those, 434 were categorized as coming from left-leaning outlets. The same analysis found that Apple News displayed five articles from right-leaning sources during the month, down from eight in February.

The report compared Apple News with three other major news aggregation platforms. Yahoo News featured 400 left-leaning stories during March, Google News featured 382, and Microsoft’s MSN carried 226. Right-leaning representation on those platforms was higher. Yahoo News displayed 70 right-leaning articles, MSN featured 58, and Google News carried 12 during the same period.

Dan Schneider, Vice President of MRC Free Speech America, commented on the findings, stating: “Apple News just took the crown from Yahoo as the most radical news app, even after the FTC delivered an official warning to the company.” He added, “I think Tim Cook is sending a clear message to President Trump and to Chairman Ferguson: Apple is far more interested in pushing radicalism than in providing Americans with balanced news. Our nation cannot survive if most voters are being fed propaganda and leftist myths.”

The report identified several outlets that appeared frequently in Apple News’ top stories, including The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vox, The Washington Post, NPR, and USA Today.

MRC Free Speech America Director Michael Morris also addressed the findings. “Apple News did more than just double down on its leftist bias in March,” Morris said. “The app’s poor showing in February, promoting only 2% right-leaning outlets, versus a reduction to less than 1% from right-leaning outlets in March, highlights Apple’s blatant ideological bias. Despite FTC scrutiny and MRC's exposure, it’s the worst among the Big Four News Apps. Americans deserve a fairer news distributor."

According to the report, the analysis covered March 1 through March 31, with researchers reviewing Apple News’ top 20 stories each day at approximately 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Outlet classifications were based on AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize sources as left, lean left, center, lean right, or right.