Online Journalism News

How Google views news

Google has come under fire again from online journalists for watering down the definition of ‘news’.

In UK web magazine The Register, Andrew Orlowski shows that the search engine is re-publishing press releases in the same category as real news.

"You may not think of Coca-Cola or the Microsoft Corporation as legitimate news organisations," he said. "But Google News thinks so. It's redefined the term 'news' so that press releases from corporate sites or lobby groups are acceptable content for the 'automated' news harvester.

"We found a Monsanto Company press release. Plus one from Exxon-Mobil Corporation entitled 'Avial Selects Exxon Elite Engine Oil for Use in its Husky and Pitts Aircraft' - how is this news? It's even more boring than CNET, whose distinctive headline style it attempts to emulate.

"Incredibly, a search for 'cluster bombs' on Google News yielded five stories, and four of them were press releases. Only one was a 'news story'. Transparency in the instruments we use is vital, to ensure the integrity of the system. So we need to know how these editorial decisions are made."

In the Online Journalism Review, Mark Glaser also examines Google's definition of news.

"Should news consumers be given press releases as news? Google downplays the mix, telling Mr Orlowski it doesn't usually lead with flack-dreck. But in a concession, the company is planning to publish written guidelines for what it considers a news site to be.

"Sure, it's a step in the right direction, but when did a technology startup get the right to dictate what a news site should and shouldn't be? Those guidelines will be chum in the water for a sceptical tech press and blogger community."

Google has already been criticised by the online community for launching a news service that does not use real journalists to produce its content.

Sources:
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1049732201.php
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30112.html
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30087.html

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
google | the register | united kingdom | search engine | cocacola | exxonmobil corporation | monsanto company press | microsoft corporation | andrew orlowski | mark glaser |

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