I ran across this story, about the fall of the New York Times, while reading another story about predictions for 2008. There is a common theme. Arrogance. I also think there is another theme; left wing politics. He is predicting that Google will face a near-meltdown due to a combination of renewed competition from rivals and complacency on the part of well insulated executives and owners. I’ve noticed a trend in Google searches that involve political topics. The top 10 or 20 search results are usually decidedly left wing sites. Some of this is probably due to gaming of the search engine. Determined groups can alter search results just as Ron Paul enthusiasts can dominate internet voting results. Google should be able to counter this by screening such activity. That they don’t seems to suggest they might share some of the sentiments of the gamers. Something similar has been seen at Amazon, and other online book sellers, when book reviews were modified or cover images altered. Others have also noticed this. My point has been that some news media, especially old media sources, seem to have decided to market to a segment of the political spectrum, rather than the public as a whole. The article I cited (from the ABC News website) agrees and also concludes that, as a business decision, it was a disaster. Is Google doing something similar ? Certainly it has made a devil’s bargain with China. Now, in spite of Google’s self filtering, China is redirecting searches to other systems. Thus, Google still loses the ad revenue they were trying to keep by selling their souls. Integrity is a word derived from “integer.” An integer is from a Latin word meaning “whole.” Is Google’s, or the New York Times’ integrity whole anymore ? Will it profit them to have given up integrity ?
Tags: China, Google, integrity, New York Times, politics
Somewhere along the line, Dr. K. journalists have starting thinking of themselves as creators of news, experts, and pundits…instead of reporters of news.
So it isn’t surprising that they slant and tint the truth to support their own preconceived notions.
Actually, the Hearst papers in the old days did that too…so it isn’t new….