EXCLUSIVE: Former CNN anchor-turned-YouTuber Don Lemon was shielded at nearly every level following his federal indictment tied to the Cities Church riot. Elitist media outlets downplayed the charges, and like clockwork, Apple News, Google News, MSN and Yahoo News hopped in to finish the job.
A Media Research Center review of the Big Four News Apps found that these tech giants collectively insulated Lemon from scrutiny, refusing to surface headlines in their top 20 morning results that clearly noted that he had been indicted by a grand jury, instead presenting it as a simple “arrest” by the Department of Justice.
MRC found eight Big Four News App stories on Lemon that omitted "indictment" and portrayed him as a journalist documenting events rather than a criminal defendant.
MRC’s Findings:
- The Big Four News Apps (Apple News, Google News, MSN and Yahoo News) hid Don Lemon’s grand jury indictment on Jan. 29 from their promoted headlines. Instead, all coverage fixated on Lemon’s arrest, misleadingly framed to imply a lack of evidence of Lemon’s alleged crimes.
- Apple News, Google News and MSN promoted eight stories on the Cities Church riot, relying exclusively on left-leaning outlets for their coverage of Lemon, ensuring his alleged crimes were framed through sympathetic lenses.
- Yahoo News ignored both Lemon’s arrest and the grand jury indictment entirely, giving it zero placement during the review period despite the bombshell allegations and the case’s implications.
The Data Explained: MRC reviewed the top 20 stories promoted by Apple News, Google News, MSN and Yahoo News from Jan. 29 through Feb. 6 for coverage of Lemon’s indictment. Across the Big Four News Apps, MRC identified just eight stories addressing the case out of 160 stories promoted during those days. Google News promoted five; MSN promoted two; Apple News promoted one; while Yahoo News promoted none.
Why It Matters? As MRC Free Speech America has documented across multiple studies, the Big Four News Apps wield enormous influence over the digital flow of information. Reaching more than 500 million users monthly, these platforms effectively decide which stories are seen, buried or erased.
The power of the Big Four News Apps is growing as trust in the elitist legacy media continues to erode. In September 2025, 86 percent of Americans said they at least sometimes got their news from digital platforms, creating a direct pipeline between traffic, narrative control and the editorial decisions of digital gatekeepers.
Apple News, Google News, MSN and Yahoo News Ignored the Grand Jury Indictment in Headlines, Covered the Lemon Story from the Left
Apple News, Google News and MSN focused on pushing left-leaning coverage that ignored Lemon’s grand jury indictment in their headlines and were framed around his arrest. Yahoo News ignored the story completely (more about that later in the piece).
Out of the eight total stories that surfaced across the three digital gatekeepers that did cover the Lemon story, not a single one came from a right-leaning outlet.
- Apple News surfaced coverage from The Guardian on Jan. 31.
- MSN promoted a reposted video from HuffPost on Jan. 31 and NBC News’ Today show on Feb. 1.
- Google News ran five stories sourced from The New York Times, CNN, NBC News, CBS News on Jan. 30 and The Associated Press on Feb. 3.
Notably absent was any coverage from Fox News, New York Post, Daily Mail or any other widely read right-leaning outlets that covered Lemon’s grand jury indictment. With coverage filtered exclusively through left-leaning media, the story was framed as gently as possible for Lemon.
None of the headlines that Apple News, Google News and MSN promoted stated that the charges stemmed from a federal grand jury finding probable cause and not simply from unilateral action by the Trump administration.
Yahoo News Ignores Don Lemon Scandal Altogether
Yahoo News delivered a blatant display of bias by omission, completely erasing the Lemon arrest and grand jury indictment from its top 20 stories despite the case making national headlines.
What did Yahoo News promote instead? It repeatedly recycled weather alerts and Super Bowl viewing guides, including daily placements of its very own “How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl” article. It also pushed at least five separate stories about the bomb cyclone that struck the Southeast in early February.
Clickbait listicles appeared repeatedly throughout. Among them were BuzzFeed’s “15 Once-Beloved Movies That Have Actually Aged Really Badly, According To The People Of The Internet,” Parade Pets’ “7 Dog Breeds That Act Like People, According to Experts” and Parade Pets’ “6 Bold Dog Breeds That Make Devoted Pets, Says a Trainer.”
These low-value distractions were repeatedly elevated here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Methodology: MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories on Apple News, Google News, MSN, and Yahoo News at approximately 8:30 AM ET from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6 for coverage of Don Lemon’s grand jury indictment. MRC then identified and reviewed story headlines to see whether they explicitly noted that a federal grand jury, as announced by the DOJ, had indicted him. MRC researchers used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the overall bias presented by the Big Four News Apps and analyzed the results.
