A study by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, has found that Apple News featured a significant number of articles from left-leaning outlets in its top stories during January 2026, while including zero from right-leaning sources.
The group examined 620 stories that appeared in high-traffic morning slots on Apple News from January 1 to January 31. According to the analysis, 440 of those stories came from outlets rated as left-leaning (such as The Washington Post, Associated Press, NBC News, The Guardian, The New York Times, NPR, and others), while the remaining 180 came from centrist outlets (including The Wall Street Journal and Reuters). No stories from right-leaning publications, such as The New York Post or Washington Examiner were included.
The Media Research Center based its outlet classifications on AllSides media bias ratings, which draw from multi-partisan panels and public surveys.
Apple News features a mix of stories selected by in-house editors and some determined algorithmically, though the company describes the top stories as editor-curated.
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Thomas Barrabi for The New York Post:
Of the 620 stories, a whopping 440 came from outlets that are rated as left-leaning, while the remaining 180 were published by centrist outlets. Meanwhile, outlets which are considered right-leaning – including The Post – were shut out entirely.
In January, Apple News featured a total of 72 articles by The Washington Post, 54 articles by The Associated Press, 50 by NBC News, 34 by The Guardian and 25 by NPR, according to MRC’s data. It published 54 Wall Street Journal articles. The numbers for The Post and Fox News were zero and zero, respectively.
Julie Mastrine, who serves as director of AllSides’ media bias rating system, said she was “not surprised at all” by the results.
“The bottom line is that Americans that are relying on these Big Tech companies to provide them with news are not getting a balanced view and they’re not getting the full scope of perspectives available,” Mastrine said in an interview…
As of Monday, Apple News had gone 96 consecutive days without showcasing a story from a conservative publication in its top stories.
“Almost half of voting-age Americans own an Apple iPhone,” MRC’s Dan Schneider told The Post. “Of course, all its phones come pre-installed with Apple News. Swipe right and you’re inundated with Apple’s cherry-picked news stories. Most people don’t even know they are being fed a steady stream of leftist narratives…”
“It is a subliminal form of propaganda, paid for with corporate dollars but without campaign finance disclosures,” Schneider added. “It could be illegal.”
MacDailyNews Take: Shocker.
Look for MacDailyNews on Apple News. We used to be included. No longer, likely due to being critical of Apple’s myopic, charisma-free, placeholder CEO who missed GenAI and has reacted to it like a deer in the headlights ever since.
Who determines what’s “real” news and what’s “fake?” Cook seems to want “technology companies'” idea of what’s “real” to be “ingrained in the schools” and “ingrained in the public.” Technology companies, again, who donated 99% of their political dollars to one party in the last U.S. Presidential election.
If this is really what Cook desires then… Wow. Just wow. – MacDailyNews, February 11, 2017
So, if TIME Canada puts the next-gen iPhone on their cover a day before Apple’s unveiling or some website criticizes Apple’s software quality, where do those stories go in Apple’s News app? Do they even show up at all?
Or how about positive news articles involving politicians with whom Tim Cook & Co. do not agree/actively oppose? – MacDailyNews, June 15, 2015
As always, readers of “news” need to consider the sources and interpret what they are are being told accordingly. The more disparate sources you can find, the better. And we don’t mean different newspaper, network, website brands that are all owned by the same conglomerate. Determining the actual ownership of your “news” sources is an investment that requires a bit of time, but it is very enlightening. – MacDailyNews, June 17, 2015
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