Is it possible to specify the news source on the search page?

[jwt873]

The news headlines shown on the iOS9 "Search & Suggestions" page in Canada seem to come mainly from one or two sources.

Is there some setting that will allow us to specify where the news headlines served up by Apple come from? Or, are we forced to rely on their news source choices?

Failing that, is it possible to turn the news off?

 

[twerppoet]

It seems there is no way to modify the News suggestions at this time. All you can do is turn off Siri Suggestions, which turns off everything, not just the news suggestions.

I thought it might be modified by the News app preferences, but apparently not.

If you use the pull down search instead of the left-most home screen search, the only Siri suggestions you will see are for recent apps. This method also automatically pulls up the keyboard for quicker searches.

 

[jwt873]

Ok, thanks. How do you turn off Siri Suggestions? I can't find that switch

Having Apple choose which headlines to display on my device is a bit troubling for me. Apart from seeing news sources I'm not fond of, I'm wondering if this is something Apple is charging money for.

Online news organizations would find it advantageous to have their content appear regularly on iDevices. There are a lot of iDevices out there. Having Apple steer iPad/iPhone users to their sites would definitely be good for clicks to bring up their readership and attract advertisers.

 

[J. A.]

They are turned off in Settings - General - Spotlight Search - Siri Suggestions.

 

[twerppoet]

The sites that show up in the Search are pretty much the same as the ones that are key demonstration feeds for Apple's News app; so I suspect it's just a continuation of that partnership.

I doubt there is much, if any, money passing hands here. It's a mutual benefit thing. Apple gets some key publishers to offer enhanced articles for News, those publishers get some extra exposure on iOS devices.

Of course, if you broke the value of those benefits down into dollars and cents it would come up as a rather large pile of cash.

Or there could be money changing hands. It's unlikely we'll ever know for sure.