Less than 2% of the top stories on Apple News last month came from right-leaning news outlets - a paltry increase from 0% a month earlier that amounts to "damage control" in the face of a possible federal crackdown on media bias, according to a conservative watchdog.

Press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN America and the Knight First Amendment Institute have all lambasted the move, with Knight's executive director Jameel Jaffe saying he is "especially concerned" about the arrest of Lemon and others "because they take place against the background of a broader effort by the Trump administration to tighten the vise around press freedom.