Google's Job in Improving Media
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
The journalism industry is shifting from old media to digital, which has been influenced by real-time social media tools like blogs and Twitter.
These websites allow anyone to be a publisher, leading to some news being unreliable. Legendary TV newsman Ted Koppel suggested at a recent Goggle event that it is Google's duty to fix this problem.
Koppel said that too much of what passes for news is trivial and sensationalistic. Media outlets spend too much time on what news people want instead of what news they need.
The idea is that Google will filter its news feed to focus on the most important news. Google has made steps to secure that their posts are from professional websites by using stories from longtime standing old media sources such as The New York Times.
Google News is the first source of news for many people every day. Since it is such a widely used website, they should feel some sense of responsibility to inform their audience of what is most important to their lives.
Stories about the Casey Anthony trial and Nancy Grace's nip slip are interesting but have no real impact on people's lives.
People need to be more informed of issues that will affect their present and future, such as the presidential race and foreign aid policies.
Photo Credit: Aaron Morrison
1 comments:
If Google can filter less reliable sources from RSS feeds and its news tab, then Google could take on a role of watchdog for the public. This should be disheartening for journalists because Google could deem their articles 'unreliable.' Traditionally, the press has set the agenda for the public. However, if Google does use a new filtering system, then it would be setting the agenda.
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