Only 2% of the articles on Apple News were aggregated from right-leaning news outlets in February, but in Apple’s defense, that was more than zero.
The popular news curation app was accused of political bias after going 100 days without including a single article from a right-of-center news source in its morning editions, according to an explosive report from the conservative Media Research Center.
Apple News broke the 100-day embargo by running a Fox News Digital story on the death of actor James Van Der Beek on Feb. 12, a day after Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned that the one-sided aggregation may violate federal law against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”
Apple may be listening. The Media Research Center said the app finished the month with a total of eight articles from right-of-center publications, mainly Fox News Digital and The Telegraph, versus 562 articles from left-leaning outlets in its morning top 20 news roundup.
Two percent may be better than nothing, but, as far as Media Research Center President David Bozell is concerned, Apple News is more interested in covering its own assets than in providing balanced, curated news.
“Two percent is not progress. It’s damage control,” Mr. Bozell said in a statement. “If public exposure and a federal inquiry only yield a modest adjustment, that suggests the bias we documented was deeply embedded.
“Apple News should not require public pressure to reflect viewpoint diversity,” he said. “This is not about token inclusion. It’s about whether one of the most powerful information gatekeepers in the country operates fairly.”
Apple News isn’t just another news source. One of the Big Four news apps, along with Google News, MSN and Yahoo News, Apple News drives enormous traffic to online publications, with 125 million combined free and paid monthly subscribers in 2020.
Their reach is enormous. Apple News is preloaded on every Apple iPhone sold in the U.S., and Google News is automatically included on Android cellphones. MSN comes on personal computers, according to the center.
Given the prevalence of cellphones and computers, Mr. Bozell said, the suppression of center-right news sites represents “another form of censorship.”
“It’s creating this false mirror where so-called legacy outlets are considered to be providing the consensus narrative in the country, whereas center-right or right-wing outlets are these niche platforms that get pats on the head, but that’s it,” Mr. Bozell told The Washington Times.
“If you’re going to preload these news apps onto your tech tools that we all have to use now to participate in the world, it’s incumbent upon them to have a fairer presentation,” he said.
After MRC exposed Apple News for censoring conservative outlets, 2% of its top stories are now from right-leaning outlets.
— Free Speech America (@FreeSpeechAmer) March 6, 2026
Do you think this is a win? pic.twitter.com/s9hDtOuUQj
David Bozell, who took over last year when his father, Media Research Center founder L. Brent Bozell III, stepped down to become U.S. ambassador to South Africa, said he is trying to help Apple News fix its left-wing tilt.
He recently wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook offering to suggest publications and show him the center’s methodology, but he hasn’t heard back.
“As far as we’re concerned, there’s plenty of center-right news outlets for Apple to choose from,” Mr. Bozell said. “They just choose not to promote them.”
An Apple spokesperson responded to the “MRC Free Speech America” report last month by telling outlets that the news app “provides access to news spanning a wide range of topics from more than 3,000 publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Washington Examiner, New York Post, CBS News, local outlets, and more.”
In addition, the spokesperson said, “Apple News users can tailor the app to their interests by choosing to follow or block specific publications or topics.”
‘Apple knows what’s at stake’
The Media Research Center challenged Apple’s claim. It said that when its researchers sought to block The Wall Street Journal, for example, they received a message saying, “If you block The Wall Street Journal, News will stop showing stories from this channel, except when selected by the Apple News editors.”
In other words, Apple curators would still be able to override the block. The same message appeared when the center tried other publications.
Conservatives say it’s no mystery why Apple News freezes out center-right publications. The app is helmed by Editor-in-Chief Lauren Kern, a former deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine and a former executive editor of New York Magazine.
“It’s no surprise to us when you hire the deputy editor at The New York Times to be your editor-in-chief, this is what you’re paying for. You’re paying for a left-wing slant,” Mr. Bozell said.
After the center released its report, Mr. Ferguson fired off a letter to Mr. Cook, warning that Apple’s left-wing aggregation tilt may constitute “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”
“Any act or practice by Apple News to suppress or promote news articles based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication, if inconsistent with Apple’s terms of service or the reasonable expectations of consumers, may violate the FTC Act,” Mr. Ferguson said in the Feb. 11 letter.
Pushing back was the libertarian Cato Institute, which accused the FTC of attempting an “end run around the First Amendment” by challenging Apple’s curation practices.
“The FTC’s allegations of bias, even if true, are ultimately irrelevant,” Cato fellow David Inserra said on the institute’s blog. “The FTC has no authority to regulate the speech that Apple News chooses to curate. This is core First Amendment territory that even the FTC is forced to acknowledge.”
The problem is that Apple News’ curated content trends sharply to the left even though the app presents itself as “this neutral news platform,” Mr. Bozell said.
“Look, whether or not Apple deceived its customers, that’s for the FTC to investigate,” he said. “But Apple knows what’s at stake, and they can put a proper reflection of the news out there, no problem at all.”
In its report, the center tracked the top 20 morning articles from Nov. 3 to Feb. 13, using the AllSides Media Bias Ratings to rank outlets on the political spectrum.
The Apple News+ subscription package includes a handful of conservative publications, including National Review, but they are far outnumbered by outlets with a left-wing tilt.
“They list the Daily Beast as a partner, but they don’t have the Daily Wire, or the Daily Caller, or the Daily Signal,” Mr. Bozell said. “Take any of the ‘Dailies’ from the conservative side, I don’t care.”
In addition, he said, “they have The Washington Post as part of their subscription package. Why not The Washington Times?”
Conservative media outlets used to be few and far between, but anyone who says they can’t find reputable center-right news sources today simply isn’t trying.
“The conservative ecosystem has come a long way,” Mr. Bozell said. “There’s a lot to choose from.”
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