A new Media Research Center (MRC) study argues that Apple News is biased against conservative media sources, making it more difficult for users to receive that information.
MRC President David Bozell shared that the implications of the situation are greater than just a simple media bias. He pointed to admissions by Apple News that its methods for collecting news aren’t based on neutral algorithms.
“Apple publicly acknowledged that its curation system is human-driven,” Bozell said during an interview with 105.9 WMAL afternoon host Derek Hunter. “There’s a lot of editorial decision making going on at Apple, certainly a lot more than some of the others.”
According to the MRC study, of the top 620 stories featured by the app during January, none came from conservative media outlets.
The MRC study labeled outlets like The Washington Post, The Associated Press, NBC News, The Guardian, The New York Times, Apple, NPR, Politico, USA Today, and Bloomberg News as “left-leaning outlets”, while arguing that The Wall Street Journal and Reuters were “center outlets.” Those labels were applied utilizing the AllSides media bias ratings.
Bozell argued that the bias in the Apple News app is detrimental to the greater news consumer.
“They’re just going to pop on Apple and see what’s happening,” he said. “And it’s always negative against the President and this administration.”
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