Apple News is making an attempt to combat “fake news” ahead of the US midterm elections. It’s added a new section in the app dedicated to following the midterms, and aims to fill it only with “well-sourced, fact-based stories.” It will feature breaking news, highlights, and analysis aggregated from other news sources, with an emphasis on reliability.
“Today more than ever people want information from reliable sources, especially when it comes to making voting decisions,” said Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News. “An election is not just a contest; it should raise conversations and spark national discourse. By presenting quality news from trustworthy sources and curating a diverse range of opinions, Apple News aims to be a responsible steward of those conversations and help readers understand the candidates and the issues.”
Stories will come from a range of sources including Fox News, Vox, the Washington Post, Axios, and Politico – with some of those writing exclusive features just for Apple News. It sounds like a good way to get a broad range of opinions with (hopefully) all the unreputable claims filtered out.
Sure, you could argue that any editorial team will add some level of bias to its news curation, whether it means to or not – but we’d rather get our news filtered by Apple’s fact-checking team than Facebook’s money-hungry newsfeed algorithms!