Apple News maintains left-leaning tilt under new CEO John Ternus, conservative watchdog group says

Apple News Accused of Left‑leaning Bias in Coverage of President Trump, MRC Study Claims

In a new analysis released by the Media Research Center (MRC), the tech company’s news aggregator is said to have leaned heavily toward liberal outlets during the run‑up to the November 2024 U.S. midterm elections. The study, which examined Apple News stories from September 1 to October 28, found that the platform published far fewer right‑leaning articles and that almost all headlines containing President Donald Trump’s name were negative or neutral, with none portraying the former president positively.

A Review of Apple News Content

Apple News, preinstalled on every iPhone sold in the United States, curates headlines from a wide range of news organizations. The MRC compared the content published during the final month of former chief executive Tim Cook’s tenure to the first month of the new CEO John Ternus, who took the helm on September 1. The watchdog then monitored the platform through the beginning of October, a period that includes the months leading up to the midterm election.

According to the MRC, the aggregator posted 504 stories between October 1 and October 28. Of those, 67.3 % were sourced from outlets that AllSides—a media bias rating site—labels as left‑leaning. Only 2 % of the stories came from right‑leaning organizations, and just 11 of the 504 headlines were from such sources. The analysis also noted that Apple News’s selection of stories did not noticeably shift in favor of right‑leaning coverage during the second month under CEO Ternus.

Coverage of Donald Trump

The study’s most pointed findings involved coverage of President Trump. In the same October window, Apple News promoted 96 headlines that mentioned the former president by name. The MRC reports that 49 of those headlines framed Trump negatively, 47 were neutral, and none presented a positive view of him or his administration. The watchdog highlighted specific story angles that portrayed Trump as an “antisemitic” figure, an “irrational bully” toward U.S. allies, and a “Russian sympathizer,” as well as headlines that focused on legal setbacks and policy failures attributed to his team.

MRC editor Luis Cornelio wrote that Apple “overlooked numerous available headlines that presented Trump, his administration, and their policies in a positive light.”

Quotes from MRC Officials

Dan Schneider, director of MRC’s Free Speech America program, told Fox News Digital that Apple’s selection “suggests how Apple under John Ternus hopes the election turns out.” He pointed to the fact that only eleven right‑leaning stories were published in October, “nearly half of which were framed negatively against Trump,” as evidence of a deliberate bias.

David Bozell, president of the MRC, added that the absence of positive coverage is “apparent from the scoreboard. Apple’s editors choose the top stories by hand, and the scoreboard shows what they chose.”

Apple’s Response

Apple has not issued a statement in response to the MRC’s findings.

Context and Implications

Apple News has long faced scrutiny over its editorial choices. Earlier this year, a Fox News Digital piece reported that several of the platform’s top executives and board members had made significant contributions to Democratic candidates in multiple election cycles. The MRC’s latest study adds to a broader debate over the role of social‑media and news‑aggregating platforms in shaping political discourse, especially during election seasons.

Whether Apple’s algorithmic curation genuinely reflects a left‑leaning bias or whether the MRC’s methodology captured a temporary imbalance remains a point of contention. Critics of the study argue that the platform’s selection process is influenced by a combination of algorithmic personalization, subscription models, and the overall popularity of stories, whereas supporters contend that the data demonstrates a systematic exclusion of right‑leaning viewpoints.

As the 2024 midterm elections draw nearer, the question of how digital news distribution may influence voter perception continues to be a central issue in the ongoing conversation about media bias and electoral integrity.