ANALYSIS
Outlets most prominently featured by Apple News and Google News have exclusively endorsed Democratic candidates
The MRC report found that the five publications most prominently featured by each platform that issue presidential endorsements have not endorsed any Republican candidate in the last 10 elections, between 1988 and 2024. Collectively, the publications identified by the study issued 31 presidential endorsements, all in favor of Democratic candidates.
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. / Saul Loeb
A new analysis by the Media Research Center (MRC) questions the political neutrality of some of the leading news aggregation platforms in the United States and points out that the media outlets most prominently featured by Apple News and Google News have exclusively endorsed Democratic candidates in presidential elections since 1988.
The analysis, cited in the MRC report, found that the five publications most heavily promoted by each platform that issue presidential endorsements have not endorsed any Republican candidate in the last 10 elections, between 1988 and 2024. Collectively, the publications identified by the study issued 31 presidential endorsements, all in favor of Democratic candidates.
For Apple News, the media outlets identified are The Washington Post, The New York Times (via The Athletic), The Guardian, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times. In the case of Google News, the outlets listed are The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Atlantic.
The MRC counted 28 endorsements of Democratic candidates and none of Republican candidates among the media outlets promoted by Apple News. USA Today is a partial exception: in some election cycles, it spoke out against Donald Trump without formally endorsing a Democratic candidate. On Google News, the media outlets analyzed accounted for 27 Democratic endorsements and no Republican endorsements, with the same caveat regarding USA Today.
The report maintains that this pattern has persisted for four decades. Among the Democratic candidates endorsed by these publications are Michael Dukakis in 1988, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Kamala Harris in 2024.
The analysis also examines the language used by some of these media outlets in their election editorials. For example, The Washington Post described Biden in 2020 as "exceptionally well-qualified" and "deeply empathetic," while characterizing Trump as "the worst president of modern times." In 2016, the newspaper described Hillary Clinton as "well-qualified" and "well-prepared," while characterizing Trump as "uniquely unqualified."
The New York Times also adopted a favorable tone toward Democratic candidates in its endorsements. In 2024, it described Kamala Harris as a public servant with "care" and "competence" and presented her as the "only patriotic choice," while describing Trump as "morally unfit" and "temperamentally unfit."
The report also notes that USA Today broke with its tradition of not endorsing presidential candidates in 2016. At that time, its editorial board questioned Trump's candidacy and stated that he lacked the "temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty" that the United States needed in a president.
Same pattern also appears on MSN
Among the outlets most prominently featured by MSN that issue presidential endorsements are USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and The San Francisco Chronicle.
According to the analysis, these outlets have accumulated 27 presidential endorsements since 1988, of which only two were for a Republican candidate: George H. W. Bush, endorsed by The San Francisco Chronicle in 1988 and 1992. Since then, that newspaper has endorsed Democratic candidates in every presidential election.
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