Google News Search

There was a very interesting piece on Marketplace yesterday regarding Google's attempts to patent a news search application similar to its Web search engine. This new application would rank news search results based on a range of criteria, including among others reputation, credibility, size of organization, number of news bureaus, etc. From an advertisement perspective, news sites are concerned that Google will siphon away their ad revenues if people no longer visit their sites directly. Folks in the journalism community are concerned that the functionality of Google's news search will influence/currupt the way news is currently reported. There is also the fact that Google could potentially profit from content that they have not created themselves. For example, a person could go to Google News and link to a Washington Post article (all the while seeing ads for Google sponsors) instead of going directly to washingtonpost.com (and seeing the WP's sponsors' ads.)

Personally, I love all things Google, and while I recognize they are a for-profit company, I don't think this is a diabolical plot to take over the news world. As an avid Google News reader, I welcome the diversity of sources, opinions, and perspectives it provides on an issue. (I mean, how cool is it to first read an article about the European economy in the Times and then get a totally different perspective from the Chinese news agency, Xinhua?) The fact that they don't create any of the content, for me, makes it even more credible. They have no stake, no editorial interest in the stories; they just aggregate and provide links. As for the intellectual property/ad revenue issue, as far as I can see, there are no ads at present on Google News. That's not to say there never will be, at which point I can see how other news organizations would feel they were being undercut. However, I see this mainly as an issue of established news organizations fighting to maintain the status quo; an industry attempt to stifle innovation in an effort to preserve market share and resist change.