Prior to Friday, November 19th, when that post, and others on Zennie62 for that day were included on Google News, then taken off and moved to Google Blog Search, Zennie62.com had become a major presence on Google News, outperforming many news sites, and showing a way toward a positive future for media that can be done by anyone. A truly democratic effort. But what's Google News?
Google News is a news aggregator that places the "news of the day" from news websites, blogs, and now videos, into categories for content consumption by people like you and me. It was created by Google Google's principal scientist Krishna Bharat, and launched September 2002.
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| Krishna Bharat: Google News Creator |
In 2003, Krishna said that Google News was "a force for democracy."
Yeah. Right.
Unfortunately, given the way this blogger was handled this week, that's not true at all in 2010.
Google News has evolved to become a force for censorship, a protector of traditional news sites against the dreaded independent blogs and bloggers like me, and a breakwater against harsh, muckraking criticism of the high-and-mighty named Sarah Palin. Google News is starting to look more like a dictatorship than a representation of democratic America.
If I post on SFGate.com, that's a traditional news site, but having the same post at Zennie62.com, suddenly became an issue for Google News after my deliberately controversial attack on the PR system that's pushing Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at an unwilling public. Now, the Zennie62.com blogger's stepped out of his "place" and here's Google News to push him back there.
To repeat, Sarah Palin is pushed by Fox News, CNN, and even MSNBC, and television shows like Dancing With The Stars at an American public, thousands of times a day on a daily basis. That, coupled with Palin's recent comments that she's considering running against President Obama in 2012, make it look as if we're being "primed" to "accept" the idea of Palin as President. Or, to go a step further, America's being brainwashed to accept the idea.
Just a search on Google News for Sarah Palin today, Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 PM EST reveals posts on her, her daughter Bristol, and a quarter-page below three conservative blogs, Red State (on Google News?), NewsBusters, and PowerLine. Liberal blog competitors are nowhere to be seen at all.
But go over to Google Blog Search and search for Sarah Palin, and the Liberal blogs appear: The Daily Beast, TMZ.com, Palinfacts.com, and VF Daily, to name a few, all with negative posts about Sarah Palin's new TV show Sarah Palin's America. Hey, Zennie62.com is there as well, now. (All the Liberal blogs together in the basement! Let's party!)
Why are The Daily Beast and VF Daily not on Google News? That's news in itself.
But the overall finding that Liberal blogs have been banished to Google Blog Search, and Conservative blogs are visible on Google News is alarming. So much for Google News being Krishna's "Force for Democracy."
If Krishna and Google are really serious about Google News being a "force for democracy," this has to stop. All of the blogs, regardless of political stripe, should be listed on Google News, not just those Conservative blogs that have been boosted, approved by Google, and given space by attacking Zennie62.com. In my case, someone just noted that I blog on SFGate.com, and said "Oh, he's duplicating content." Bull.
The content is mine and I'm cross-posting; all content starts at Zennie62.com, not SFGate.com. Google staff knew this, and it was a point I made when applying for inclusion to Google News: that it's not right for Google News to favor news sites over blog sites.
Blogs are the real "force for democracy." It's too bad Krishna wants to keep the Liberal blogs in the basement of censorship, where criticism of Sarah Palin is seen by fewer viewers.
Not cool. Not right. And downright bad.
And in case you're wondering, I did contact Krishna about the Zennie62.com Google News problem via email and phone. This was done Monday evening, even as this blogger was stranded at Chicago's O'Hare Airport due to an epic rain storm while in route to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. Krishna said he would "have support look into it," but seemed rushed. It was on the next day, today, that I received the email about not being included in Google News any more, and a full five days after the Palin action.
Stay tuned.
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