EXCLUSIVE: Google claims to empower users to customize search results with a “preferred sources” tool. However, the Media Research Center can once again confirm that leftist sources continue to dominate search results even with this tool enabled.
Google’s favoritism for leftist outlets was evident on Wednesday, when MRC searched for major news related to President Donald Trump, including D.C. crime, ongoing U.S.-led peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s bombshell accusations against the architects behind the Trump-Russian collusion hoax.
Key Findings:
- Google continued prioritizing left-leaning sources to the point that they dominated the search results.
- It blended these sources with the preferred sources selected by MRC researchers.
- It also hid a section that displayed the preferred sources MRC researchers selected.
In each case, Google ensured that leftist news outlets appeared front and center, far surpassing the preferred right-leaning outlets MRC researchers set—Daily Mail, New York Post, Fox News and NewsBusters.
Google yielded a combined total of 36 results across the searches for “DC crime,” “DNI Tulsi Gabbard” and “Trump Russia Ukraine.” Of these results, 18 articles came from leftist outlets, a stark contrast to the 11 right-leaning and 10 center outlets.
In each case, the preferred sources MRC researchers selected appeared at the top of results, but were nonetheless mixed with leftist sources. Google also featured these preferred sources in a separate section titled “From your sources,” which was buried under two other sections, “Top news” and “Also in the news.”
Tellingly, the “From your sources” section was collapsed. MRC had to click on “More from your sources” to expand and view additional entries. (More about this later in this story).
After that, Google filled the page with leftist alternatives. These leftist outlets included The New York Times, The Washington Post, Axios, NPR, CNN and even Al Jazeera.
Dan Schneider, the vice president for MRC Free Speech America, slammed Google’s “preferred sources” tool as a sham designed to cover for years of bias and election meddling.
“Google’s inclusion of leftist sources even after the preferred sources are selected is the equivalent of stepping into a restaurant, ordering Wagyu Beef and then being served with an extra plate of chicken feet and necks,” Schneider said.
“When we specifically asked Google to provide right-leaning sources, we finally got articles on both sides of the issue. This should be the default, not the exception,” he added.
When MRC expanded the “From your sources” section, Google revealed four additional entries per search, all from outlets chosen by the MRC. If those entries were included in the total count, right-leaning sources would have eclipsed the left-leaning sources displayed in search results. However, this shift only occurred after MRC manually expanded the section.
Had Google not hid the preferred sources sections, there would have been 23 right-leaning sources, more than the 18 from the left.
Google announced the implementation of this tool on Aug. 12. At the time, it acknowledged that while preferred sources would appear more frequently in search results, other selected outlets would still be included. What Google left unsaid, however, was that these other outlets—exclusively from the left—would come to dominate the revealed results.
"Once you select your sources, they will appear more frequently in Top Stories or in a dedicated ‘From your sources’ section on the search results page. You’ll still see content from other sites, and can manage your selections at any time," Google noted.
Methodology: On Wednesday, MRC researchers conducted three separate Google searches using the Brave browser and its paid VPN feature to avoid any influence from cookies or prior search history on the results.
The search queries used were “DC crime,” “DNI Tulsi Gabbard,” and “Trump Russia Ukraine.” Google returned a mix of results, including some from non-news outlet websites. For this specific study, MRC excluded these non-news sites from the tally and focused solely on results from outlets rated by AllSides, a media ratings firm. This approach was intended to provide a clear view for comparing left-leaning and right-leaning sources.
MRC relied on AllSides’ classification of each outlet, rather than making unilateral judgments about perceived bias. AllSides uses five categories: left, lean left, center, lean right, and right. For this study, MRC combined left and lean left, as well as lean right and right, for clarity and brevity.
MRC compiled the results into a spreadsheet. For the query “DC crime,” the results included: Fox News, The Washington Post, Axios, NBC4 Washington, New York Post, NPR, CNN and PBS. For the query “DNI Tulsi Gabbard,” the results were: Fox News, New York Post, BBC, The Washington Post, NewsBusters, Politico, The Hill and CNN. For the third query, “Trump Russia Ukraine,” the results included: Fox News, New York Post, The New York Times, BBC, NewsBusters, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, NBC News, NPR, AP News, Reuters, DW News and CNN.
