Karah Rucker
WE’RE JUST ABOUT A MONTH AWAY FROM ELECTION DAY.
AND FOR VOTERS WHO ARE DOING THEIR RESEARCH ON THE CANDIDATES THROUGH GOOGLE NEWS SEARCHES –
ONE STUDY SAYS YOU’RE LIKELY GETTING YOUR INFORMATION FROM A SOURCE WITH A LEFT-LEANING BIAS.
GOOGLE IS THE LARGEST SEARCH ENGINE IN THE WORLD.
BUT “THE MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER,” A CONSERVATIVE MEDIA WATCHDOG, IS RAISING CONCERNS THAT THE SEARCH GIANT IS PRIORITIZING RESULTS FROM NEWS OUTLETS WITH A LEFT POLITICAL LEAN.
THERE WERE PLENTY OF BIG HEADLINES COMING OUT OF THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE THIS WEEK.
BUT ONES LIKE THESE –
FROM LEFT-LEANING NEWS OUTLETS –
WERE THE ONLY HEADLINES POPULATING IN GOOGLE NEWS SEARCH RESULTS UNDER CERTAIN KEYWORDS IN THE HOURS AFTER THE DEBATE – ACCORDING TO THE MRC STUDY.
FOR THE KEYWORDS “JD VANCE” ON THE NIGHT OF THE DEBATE –
MRC FOUND THAT EVERY ARTICLE UNDER GOOGLE NEWS SEARCH RESULTS —100 PERCENT OF THEM ORIGINATED FROM OUTLETS WITH A LEFT POLITICAL BIAS.
THIS INCLUDED MAJOR NEWS ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THE NEW YORK TIMES, BBC, CNN, CBS NEWS, AND OTHERS.
IN A SUBSEQUENT SEARCH FOR “TIM WALZ,” THE RESULTS WERE ONLY MARGINALLY BETTER, WITH 90 PERCENT OF ARTICLES COMING FROM LEFT-LEANING OUTLETS.
ONE ARTICLE APPEARED FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL.
THE CONSERVATIVE MRC HAS REPEATEDLY DOCUMENTED THIS TREND, MARKING THIS AS THEIR 21ST ELECTION-RELATED STUDY, ALL WITH SIMILAR FINDINGS.
ANOTHER STUDY ON THE DAY BEFORE THE DEBATE –
FOUND SEARCHES FOR “KAMALA HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE 2024” RESULTED IN NEWS REPORTS FROM ALL LEFT-LEANING SOURCES –
UNTIL THE 13TH PAGE OF RESULTS WHEN AN ARTICLE FROM FOX NEWS APPEARED.
SIMILARLY – RESULTS FOR “DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN WEBSITES” DIDN’T POPULATE A RIGHT-LEANING RESULT UNTIL THE 14TH PAGE WHEN A NEW YORK POST ARTICLE APPEARED.
FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP LAST WEEK – TOOK TO TRUTH SOCIAL TO AIR HIS GRIEVANCES WITH ALLEGED BIASES IN GOOGLE’S NEWS SEARCH RESULTS –
SAYING GOOGLE HAS “ILLEGALLY USED A SYSTEM OF ONLY REVEALING BAD STORIES ABOUT TRUMP, SOME OF THEM MADE UP, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME REVEALING GOOD STORIES ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS.
TRUMP CALLING IT “BLATANT INTERFERENCE OF ELECTIONS.”
IN RESPONSE –
GOOGLE PROVIDED A STATEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES.
SAYING – “Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of search for relevant and common search queries.”
GOOGLE REFUTED MRC’S STUDY ON SEARCH RESULTS –
TELLING MSNBC “Queries about the presidential election or candidates generally surface links to constantly changing news articles reflecting what’s on the web — so they change all the time. We absolutely do not manipulate search results to favor any candidate.”
THANKS FOR WATCHING OUR NEWS UPDATE.
AS WE GET CLOSER TO ELECTION DAY 2024 –
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REPORTING FOR SAN – I’M KARAH RUCKER.
