How can this be true if their top source, by a ratio of almost 2 to 1, is the cable news network with the lowest viewership? CNN doesn't even have a show that cracks the top 25 cable news shows[0].
There are people who use cable news, and consume cable news through cable.
There are people who like cable news web sites, and search for them on Google.
Let's say for instance that 2/3 of the people who search for news on Google are people who like cable news web sites. Then, by a ratio of almost 2 to 1, cable news web sites will be favored.
Rephrased: Perhaps people are actively consuming CNN through the Google searches on the web, and people are passively consuming Fox through cable.
Not that it's strong evidence, but consider: "According to Nielsen ratings, the median age of Fox’s audience was 66 in 2016." [1] [2]
That would explain CNN being at the top, but wouldn't explain why NYT and WP outrank Fox in the audit, by a 2 to 1 ratio, when Fox outranks them on Alexa.
Some people open Fox News directly, and then Alexa thinks they're awesome.
Some people come to Google, and go past the Fox News result, and seem happy with the CNN result, or NYT, or WP, so Google thinks they're awesome.
And if Fox News viewers think Google is biased, and then avoid Google, then Google will become more biased. It's a vicious cycle, or virtuous cycle, depending on how you look at it.
I think it is partly because NYT and WP cover much larger ground and produce many more stories than Fox News. So a large number of visits to Fox News itself for stories belonging to small set of topics doesn't help Fox News with Google search results. Also, maybe reputation matters. Due to many reasons (and this is the elephant in the room I guess), Fox tends to be less objective than WP and NYT. Fox News also had to redact many fabricated stories in the past.
I get where you're coming from, but if you're not a card-carrying progressive then this statement feels egregiously false. The Washington Post was at the forefront of the Covington debacle. NYT pushes editorials about how mixed race dating is bad (from a "woke" perspective), among other crazy, far-left ideology.
What gets me about this whole subject is that everyone I know who watches Fox News knows that they're watching partisan spin, even the elderly ones. It's kind of a theater of overblown, right wing outrage that they're willing participants in. Most people I know who watch CNN think that it's objective, which couldn't be further from the truth.
[0] https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/the-top-cable-news-shows-of-...