Apple News joins political fray

Apple hopes to lure political junkies to its Apple News service with new at-aglance candidate profiles of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

These curated candidate guides will appear ahead of the first two Democratic debates, taking place Wednesday and Thursday in Miami and broadcast on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

Guides will include content from several of Apple’s news partners, including USA TODAY, ABC, Axios, CNN, Fox, NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME and Vox.

Profiles are being set up for the same 20 candidates who will take the Democratic debate stage, 10 on each night. Candidates left out of these first debates won’t have an Apple News profile either, at least for now.

As contenders along the way drop out of the race, the guides will be whittled down, in order to give more bandwidth to the candidate pages of those who remain.

The guides can be found in the Top Stories section within the Apple News app on iPhones, iPads and Macs.

They’ll include an illustration of the candidates, plus bios, quotes and their key positions on select issues chosen on the basis of their specific platforms.

Apple News itself is free, though the premium Apple News+ service costs about $10 monthly, giving access to some 300 magazines, plus The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Toronto Star.

Any paywalled articles related to a Democratic candidate will be made available only to those who subscribe or are trying out Apple News+.

Apple hopes voters will not only skim profiles before and during the debates but continue to follow favored candidates throughout the election cycle; stories about them will appear within Apple News feeds.

Apple also is working with NBC to get real-time fact-checking and video clips of key moments during the debates.

Each candidate guide will more or less get the same amount of space.

Apple plans something similar for any Republican candidates who might challenge President Donald Trump during the primary season.

Each candidate guide will more or less get the same amount of space. APPLE