I've generally tried to remain Google-neutral in my blog (not favoring, not lambasting) but in this case, I've noticed something anti-Google that I felt worth mentioning and examining.
I am, as you might imagine, a fan of Google News. I get all my breaking and topical news about the US, the world, business, health, and yes, Google from Google News. Its automated aggregation and curation gives me comfort. :-)
As I've been reading news articles about Google, I've come across a unsettling trend in the slant of news stories coming out about Google from one publisher specifically: PC World. And IDG company, PC World generally covers all things for your personal computer, and in the last several years, that has of course included things of the Internet, and naturally, Google.
What I've noticed about the headlines and stories coming out of this outfit are decidedly biased towards maligning and expecting the worst from Google. It's as if they think they are Fox News, and Google is the Obama White House: to them, Google can do no right.
Here then are a sampling of recent headlines from PC World (and a few other online sources) on news about Google:
| PC World | CNET | Major Newspaper Online (New York Times, Washington Post, etc.) |
| Google's Free Airport Wi-Fi Shouldn't be a Holiday Treat | Google's holiday gift: Free airport Wi-Fi | Free Wi-Fi From Google, Microsoft, eBay and Yahoo (nytimes.com) |
| Google, Plaintiffs Blow Book Search Settlement Deadline | More time needed for revised Google Books deal | Parties Seek More Time to Craft Google Books Deal (nytimes.com) |
| Google's Cheap Cloud Storage: Worth the Price? | Google cuts Picasa photo storage prices | Increase Your Gmail and Picasa Storage for as Little as $5 (washpost.com) |
| Google's Go Is Promising, but Still in Diapers | Google hopes to remake programming with Go | Google's Go: A New Programming Language That's Python Meets C++ (washpost.com) |
| Google Bets on Mobile Advertising with AdMob Purchase | Google to acquire AdMob for $750 million | Google To Acquire Mobile-Ad Firm AdMob For $750 Mln (online.wsj.com) |
I had to get to the fifth headline to finally find a PC World headline that didn't disparage Google in some way.
What's with this? Does PC World have an axe to grind with Google? How can there be a consistent bias like this across all number of stories and writers at one news site?
That's why the future of journalism can be found in things like Google News, not to mention individuals like Jeff Jarvis and Jay Rosen.
