Democratic debates 2019: Apple News enters presidential race with candidate guides

Edward C. Baig
Apple News is creating curated candidate guides for the 20 hopefuls who will be taking the Democratic debate stage. Content comes from media partners.

Apple hopes to lure political junkies to its Apple News service with new at-a-glance candidate profiles of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

These curated candidate guides will appear ahead of the first 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.

Profiles 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 first debates won’t have an Apple News profile either, at least for now.

As contenders along the way drop out of the race, the guides will also be whittled down, giving 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 specific platforms.

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Apple News itself is free, though the premium Apple News+ service costs about 10 bucks monthly, giving you 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 only be made available to those who subscribe or are trying out Apple News+.

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

Apple News profile guide for Pete Buttigieg
Apple News profile guide for Pete Buttigieg

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

Each candidate guide will more or less get the same amount of space, with some variation for those who have been in the public eye longer.

And yes, Apple plans something similar for any GOP candidates who might challenge President Donald Trump during the primary season.

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow @edbaig on Twitter

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic debates 2019: Apple News enters presidential race with candidate guides