Google...not a Media Company?
Monday, March 29, 2010
Although Google continues to reinforce that they are not a media company, last week they seemed to postion themselves with newspapers and television news shows. In David Carr's article in The New York Times, he calls this "the greatest fight over freedom of expression in years."
Last week Google announce that its division would be exiting China and moving to Hong Kong. China has strict senorship laws that are enforced by their govenment.
It will be interesting to watch as the future reveils itself, as conutries like, Austria, Itlay, and South Korea would like Google to monitor their access to some degree also. By walking away from China, and the vast opportunities there, it will be hard to see them standing for other restrictions.
How forgetful we can be when it comes to our right for the freesdom of expression and free press as residents of the United States.
3 comments:
I think that the Chinese do have a right to censor what their citizens can see online. However when those citizens are not allowed to view certain content that others can see I think it is wrong. Google as a guest in another country needs to know the laws of that country so they dont affend anyone. I also feel that they need to stay in China because if they leave someone elso will just fill in the gap and then google will be out on a huge market.
I think Google has grown to be so powerful on the web, it can afford call the shots. Sure, they will lose out on business in China, but I admire them for being true to their value system, which includes freedom of information for everyone, everywhere.
First of all: not a media company? I'm not an expert on the media, but I don't see how a company that has a section for "GoogleNews" can claim that they are not a "media" company. Many people, including myself, go to Google for news, so I would have to disagree with Google.
That being said, I didn't really understand what the rest of your blog had to do with your original thought and title. Maybe I just didn't follow it, but it seemed to me that you then changed topics completely about how Google is making adjustments and freedom of expression.
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