MRC Watchdogs churn out breaking news on a daily basis. Don't miss Today's Highlights, where you can keep up with the top MRC content, whether it's the latest study on media bias, a glaring omission from the elitist media, or how the Big Tech companies are serving up the same leftist spin as the media.
Top Stories:
- Apple Shows Its True Colors
- 57-0: Apple News Coverage of Immigration Omits Right-Leaning Outlets in Early February
- Big Four News Apps, Including Apple News, Go Silent on FTC Apple Rebuke
- CNN Touts Colbert-Talarico Stunt As a 'Perfect Storm' for Dems, Everybody Wins!
Apple News Leadership Ties to Legacy Media Bias: Apple News Editor-in-Chief Lauren Kern is a former deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine and executive editor of New York Magazine—highlighting how former liberal-leaning outlet leaders curate stories for millions of iPhone users daily, influencing what gets elevated and potentially skewing selection toward legacy perspectives.
Dramatic Divide in Trump Approval by News Platform: A late-January poll shows President Trump's net approval at +9 among X users but plummets to -33 among consumers of websites and newspapers—a stark, non-coincidental gap driven by sustained promotion of the same legacy outlets on platforms like Apple News, Google News, Yahoo News, and MSN.
Platform Promotions Drive Traffic and One-Sided Narratives: MRC's Digital News Tracker shows Apple News promoted the left-leaning Minnesota Star Tribune 11 times in January (Google News 5 times), boosting it to 48th among top U.S. news sites with 16M+ visits—enabling dominant, one-sided framing (e.g., on immigration enforcement as excessive and blaming Trump/ICE), proving consistent elevation of one side shapes public opinion over time.
57-0: Apple News Coverage of Immigration Omits Right-Leaning Outlets in Early February
Extreme 57-0 Imbalance on ICE/Immigration Coverage: In the first two weeks of February 2026, Apple News promoted 57 headlines on immigration, ICE, and DHS—accounting for 20% of its daily top 20 morning stories—all from leftist or center outlets (e.g., AP, Washington Post, NBC, NPR), with 0 from right-leaning sources per AllSides ratings, creating a completely one-sided narrative.
Heavy Focus on Negative, Fear-Based Framing of ICE in Minnesota: Apple News repeatedly elevated anti-ICE stories with alarming headlines like “Hard hats and dummy plates: Reports of ICE ruses add to fears in Minnesota” (AP), “Migrants languish in US detention centers facing dire conditions” (AP), and “‘A profound sense of being hunted’” during arrests (The Guardian), portraying enforcement as threatening and inhumane while ignoring any balanced or pro-enforcement perspectives.
Platform Bias Suppresses Right-Leaning Views and Shapes Public Perception: By exclusively amplifying left-leaning outlets and omitting right-leaning ones on a hot-button issue like ICE operations in Minnesota, Apple News—preinstalled on iPhones and reaching nearly all U.S. smartphone users—drives imbalanced exposure that influences opinions, especially as digital aggregators increasingly dominate news consumption amid declining traditional media trust.
Big Four News Apps, Including Apple News, Go Silent on FTC Apple Rebuke
Complete Blackout on FTC Rebuke of Apple News Bias From February 11–18, 2026, the Big Four news apps—Apple News, Google News, MSN, and Yahoo News—gave zero coverage to the FTC Chairman's letter rebuking Apple for systematically promoting left-wing outlets and suppressing conservative ones, despite dozens of stories from left- and right-leaning media (e.g., New York Post, CBS News, Business Insider) making it a major national story.
Pattern of Ideological Suppression Exposed by FTC & MRC Data The FTC cited MRC studies showing Apple News's extreme imbalance: 620-0 left-to-right ratio in January 2026 morning editions, only 1 right-leaning article out of 560 in November 2025, and 100 days before featuring any right-leaning outlet. Similar suppression hit the other apps (e.g., Yahoo News zero right-leaning in top 20 for 16 January days; Google News only 3% right-leaning content).
Coordinated Silence Fuels Broader Media Manipulation Concerns This "no accident" blackout on scrutiny of their own curation practices—per MRC Free Speech VP Dan Schneider—means millions relying on these dominant, pre-installed apps (reaching hundreds of millions daily) remained unaware of potential FTC Act violations over viewpoint discrimination, reinforcing how these platforms shape narratives by omitting inconvenient stories about their bias.
CNN Touts Colbert-Talarico Stunt As a 'Perfect Storm' for Dems, Everybody Wins!
CNN Celebrates the Stunt as a 'Perfect Storm' Win for Democrats On The Lead with Jake Tapper, CNN guests (including Bill Carter and Jonah Goldberg) hailed Stephen Colbert's YouTube interview with James Talarico—after claiming CBS "banned" it over equal-time rules—as a brilliant setup where "everybody kind of comes out a winner": Talarico got massive amplified views via the Streisand Effect, Colbert thumbed his eye at CBS and Trump, and Democrats scored free publicity.
Colbert's Extreme Liberal Guest Bias Exposed Since 2022, Colbert has booked 214 liberal or Democrat guests on The Late Show compared to just one Republican (Liz Cheney, dismissed as barely counting), yet CNN framed CBS's equal-time "guidance" as a Trump-driven "chilling effect" on free speech—ignoring that the rule aims for fairness and Colbert rarely features conservative critics anyway.
Media Hypocrisy on Free Speech and Norms While guests warned of conservative "cancel culture" via government power (e.g., Trump's FCC threats), they downplayed the left's own patterns; the post criticizes CNN for cheering the stunt as a Democrat triumph rather than questioning Colbert's hoax-like claims (CBS called it mere "guidance," not a ban) and the cycle of norm-breaking that could backfire on all sides.
