EXCLUSIVE: Last month, the Media Research Center exposed Microsoft’s MSN for manufacturing the illusion of balance on its feed while concealing its censorship by promoting non-political, right-leaning stories in top placements.
In practice, MSN's scheme is simple: the digital news gatekeeper uses right-leaning outlets for entertainment and human interest stories to fake balance and suppress political reporting — especially stories the elitist media ignore — while routing major, policy-impacting news stories through left-leaning outlets.
March offered much of the same, as the Microsoft-owned news aggregator maintained a lopsided imbalance in its morning feeds to mislead Americans on consequential issues, with the U.S.-Iran war among the topics MSN framed as negatively as possible.
MRC Findings of MSN’s Top 20 Morning Editions in March:
- Microsoft’s MSN kept right-leaning coverage scarce, with just 58 stories, accounting for only 12% of all sampled stories and almost entirely from one single outlet. Meanwhile, the news aggregator promoted 226 stories (47%) from left-leaning outlets and 199 stories (41%) from center-rated outlets.
- Of the limited right-leaning share, Microsoft’s MSN devoted nearly half (28 stories) to celebrities, crime, sports or other human-interest topics.
- The aggregator excluded stories from every right-leaning outlet except Fox News, Fox Business and The Western Journal, resulting in a ratio of 88 left-leaning outlets and others to only three right-leaning outlets.
- The imbalance presented by Microsoft’s MSN ensured that much of the hard-hitting political news coverage was seen through the lens of left-leaning sources.
- For example, coverage of the Iran conflict included 46 stories from left-leaning outlets compared to just 16 from right-leaning sources.
“MSN’s imbalance favoring the left isn’t a mistake; it’s a choice,” said MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider. “It might think that it can pull the wool over people’s eyes, but its manipulation of the news is apparent to anybody that looks beneath the surface.”
MRC’s prior work shows just that. In February, MSN also shunned right-leaning sources, narrowing coverage to little more than Fox News and Fox Business.
MSN Once Again Elevates Right-Leaning Public Interest Stories to Fabricate Balance
Microsoft’s MSN is one of the Big Four News Apps that the MRC has repeatedly exposed for sidelining right-leaning outlets in its feeds, effectively limiting Americans’ access to balanced news coverage.
Like in February, MSN’s attempt at appearing more balanced than its competitors (Apple News, Google News and Yahoo News) was merely an illusion.
In March, MSN once again relied on Fox (Fox News and Fox Business) and one story from The Western Journal as its right-leaning sources, but even then, it rarely elevated Fox’s political content.
MRC analyzed the 620 stories that MSN promoted over the month’s 31 days and used independent media bias firm AllSides to determine the bias of each outlet. Of those, 483 stories came from outlets with AllSides ratings, with the breakdown being:
- Left-leaning: 226 stories (47% of rated coverage)
- Center: 199 stories (41%)
- Right-leaning: 58 stories (12%)
A closer look at the specific 58 right-leaning stories revealed that all but one came from Fox-owned sources: 52 from Fox News and five from Fox Business. The only other outlet promoted by Microsoft’s MSN was The Western Journal.
MSN overwhelmingly promoted Fox News and Fox Business’s stories on sports, local crime, and other human-interest topics. At least 28 of the 52 focused on human-interest topics, while 16 covered foreign policy — primarily the Iran conflict.
MSN’s apparent obsession with suppressing hard news stories on policy from right-leaning outlets leaves its audience in the dark.
In a puzzlingly glaring example, MSN shut out Fox stories on Sheridan Gorman’s alleged murderer, a Venezuelan national who had lived in Colombia, while flooding readers with coverage of Chet Hanks being “trapped” in Colombia.
MRC researchers found no Fox News stories about criminal illegal aliens detained by DHS, but they did encounter several celebrity stories, such as a 95-year-old Canadian actor handing out life advice.
Last month, MSN elevated a Fox News piece on a cruise line shutting down. This month, it doubled down with other cruise stories, this time about Carnival Cruise Line canceling 11 sailings and another about the Regal Princess changing routes to save people in a distressed boat.
Other Fox News stories Microsoft’s MSN promoted included:
- “Pilot claims Google Earth image may show Amelia Earhart's missing plane on Pacific island reef,” by Fox News, promoted March 21.
- “'Baywatch' star Alexandra Paul arrested after allegedly stealing beagles in Wisconsin raid,” by Fox News, promoted March 18.
- “Dolly Parton gives health update at Dollywood after postponing Las Vegas residency shows,” by Fox News, promoted March 16.
- “‘Access Hollywood’ canceled after 30 years,” by Fox News, promoted March 14.
- “Kurt Russell offers 'no apologies' for traditional hunting lifestyle” (March 14)
Notably, of the 199 center stories promoted by the news aggregator, it pushed Newsweek a staggering 104 times.
Microsoft’s MSN Relies on Elitist Media for Impactful News — Like Iran Conflict
MSN’s imbalance of left-leaning vs. right-leaning stories means critical news is filtered through a leftist lens. For instance, MRC researchers found that of the month’s roughly 92 stories on the U.S. and Israel’s armed conflict with Iran, just 17% came from right-leaning sources, with the specific breakdown being:
- 46 left-leaning (50%)
- 30 center (33%)
- 16 right-leaning (17%)
In response to MSN’s shenanigans, MRC Free Speech America Director Michael Morris said, “MSN’s anti-conservative bias is hiding in plain sight. It feigns balance by throwing in some articles from right-leaning outlets here and there, but the digital news gatekeeper still promoted nearly three times more left-leaning articles than right. It's time for digital news gatekeepers to commit to fair representation.”
MSN’s strong promotion of stories from left-leaning and other elitist media outlets included headlines that seemed to push an agenda attacking Trump while casting Iran in a favorable light.
A Washington Post headline — “Video appears to show US Tomahawk hit naval base near Iranian school” — seems to subtly blame the Trump administration for the deadly strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school. Its carefully-crafted language implies U.S. responsibility without explicitly stating it, leaving readers with the impression that the administration is at fault while the truth remained unclear.
For example, a Newsweek headline — “Iran raises doubts over Donald Trump deal remarks” — sided with Iran, suggesting Trump’s earlier comments about a ceasefire were false, even though prior reporting showed Iran was already open to a ceasefire if strikes stopped.
Those were just two examples of a broader pattern of extreme bias. Other headlines pushed polling narratives that painted Trump and the war in Iran negatively:
- “New Iran poll hands Donald Trump direct message from voters,” by Newsweek, promoted March 26.
- “Unpopular POTUS, unpopular war - and Trump's surrender in Iran will be even worse: James Carville,” by MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), promoted March 10.
- “'Disgusting and evil.' Trump faces MAGA backlash on Iran,” by USA Today, promoted March 03.
- “'Not our war': Europe says no to Trump,” by Reuters, promoted on March 19.
Some stories recycled standard left-wing attacks:
- “Iran war deaths could resurface Trump’s complicated history with military sacrifice,” by The Associated Press, promoted March 7.
- “Why presidents stumble in this most solemn task,” by CNN, promoted March 8.
Other reporting emphasized fallout for Trump, focusing on economic pressures and rising oil prices:
- “Nobel economist Paul Krugman says the Iran war could be the 'straw that breaks the camel's back' for a fragile US economy,” by Markets Insider, promoted March 5.
- “Gold just had its worst week since 1983,” by CNN, promoted March 21.
- “Iran picks new leader as war deepens oil shock,” by Bloomberg News, promoted March 9.
- “It was supposed to be another boom year for the economy. March changed everything,” by Business Insider, promoted March 30.
Other headlines reinforced a narrative of the U.S. losing ground in the war, while portraying Iran as increasingly in control of the escalation.
- CNN investigates: How Iran strikes have damaged US military sites,” by CNN, promoted March 4.
- “Iran appears to have conducted a significant cyberattack against a US company, a first since the war started,” by NBC News, promoted March 12.
- “Iran is hitting the radars that underpin US missile defenses,” by The Wall Street Journal, promoted March 8.
- “Sources: Iran laying traps for potential US attack on Kharg Island,” by CNN, promoted March 26.
Methodology: MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories on Microsoft’s MSN at approximately 8:30 AM ET from March 1 to March 31. 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 Microsoft’s MSN and analyzed the results.
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