Apple News ran 84 negative headlines on Republican priorities and zero positive ones before midterms, study finds

Apple News promoted 84 stories that negatively framed the issues Republicans care about during the lead-up to the midterm elections, while promoting zero stories that positively framed GOP-aligned issues, according to a study by the Media Research Center (MRC).

The MRC, a conservative media watchdog, analysed Apple News' top 20 stories from 15 to 30 September. It found that voters who rely on the platform for information were fed roughly five stories per day that negatively characterised the Republicans' top 10 policy priorities.

Apple News comes preinstalled on every iPhone in America. According to the study, during that same period the platform did not promote a single story that positively framed a Republican priority.

The study found that Apple News promoted 117 stories on GOP-aligned issues during the review period. Of those, 84 stories featured negative headlines (72 percent) and 33 received neutral headlines (28 percent). None of the headlines presented GOP issues in a positive light.

Before conducting the study, the MRC identified 10 prominent Republican-aligned issues based on recent polls: immigration and border security, the economy, law and order, reducing government spending, combating drug use, national security and foreign policy, taxes, countering terrorism, education and protecting the unborn.

MRC staffers Luis Cornelio and Madison Van Zant, who conducted the study, wrote that their findings add to the growing body of evidence that the platform's editors continue to curate its feeds to push a left-wing political agenda.

In their summary, they wrote that Apple News ensured immigration was framed through court defeats and sensationalist stories; the economy through high gas prices; law and order through positive portrayals of police abolition; cuts to government through accusations of radicalism; foreign policy through portrayals of America's adversaries as warriors; and efforts to curb waste through claims of unlawful cuts.

Commenting on the findings, MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider said Apple News pushed more than 80 stories that negatively framed the issues Republicans care about during the lead-up to the midterm elections.

Another critic, David Bozell, said: 'Apple News ran 84 negative headlines on Republican priorities and zero positive ones. Zero!' He argued that millions of voters open the app before they vote and demanded that Apple explain who picks the stories and why Republicans received what he called the whole bad-news buffet.

Apple News has long been accused of having a liberal bias. Earlier this year it was reported that many of the company's top executives and board members have made substantial contributions to Democrats over multiple election cycles.

Some conservatives were hopeful that Apple News would pivot once new CEO John Ternus took control of the company, but a previous MRC study found that the news aggregator increased the percentage of stories from leftist outlets during his first month on the job.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the study.