TV Schedule

The great Google News conspiracy?


  3. sinlung
  4. related topics
Get your tinfoil hats ready, people - there's something strange afoot.

A reader has got in touch to point out the strangeness of today's UK Google News seems weirdly devoid of any mention of the Olympic torch protests that took place yesterday.

You know, the ones that are on the front page of every newspaper, leading most of the TV and radio bulletins and prominently featured on news websites such as the BBC and the Guardian.

As our tipster points out "You could be looking at Google's news page for the UK and not have any idea it was going on (though you would know Keith Allen thinks Diana's death wasn't an accident!)."

The story actually features on the sports pages, and there is currently a mention of China in the third story on the World news page "China faces long-term risks from tough Tibet stance" from our very own site. So this might indicate an algorithmic cockup - perhaps all stories about the Olympics are deemed sports, not hard news.

At best, it's a horrible inadequacy of Goog's news ranking system. At worst? Well, let's see what Google's explanation is first.
sinlung

7 responses // The great Google News conspiracy?

  • Luckily for me I always wear my tinfoil hat.

    Google's integrity has been declining for years as far as this sort of thing is concerned.
    BenDorries
  • Good luck trying to get this Current story indexed on Google. ;-)
    oneparkave
  • Ahem... that's a feature, not a bug :)

    But seriously, does the conspiracy theorist have any data or did they just look at an old cached copy of the page? Got some access logs? a screenshot with your computer's clock in the corner? anything?

    I need more data before I don the tinfoil hat ;)
    digitrash
  • Maybe some folks at Google were wearing their tin-foil hats and missed the whole torch fiasco?

    Oh - aluminum foil works better. (don't ask me how I know that)
    patsarts
  • This kind of stuff happens in newspapers around the US all the time especially because most stations here use the Associated Press for info.
    jamesphilb
  • when will news be news again. when will it be the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech. at least we still have current and all you clever people. thanks.
    and its half true in the u.s. too. at least it seems. maybe its just these people completely ignoring the problem. again. and again. and again. an............
    dirkglitchmann
  • Yes everyone there is a fly in the chardonnay but it didn't start today. It started long long ago when Columbus discovered America. We and most of the world are victims of revisionist history. Since the day you were born most of what you were told as fact is just as much a fairy tale as the three bears. The people who write our text books in high school (Simon and Schuster for me) should be held liable for their libel. They hold history majors from prestigious universities and this is as right as they could get it. Me smells a rat all over the place. Unfortunately, if you expect the truth you have to find it yourself. When you share it with your friends, they will call you crazy or a rebel. We have a big problem with history and the news here in the U.S. and it is only getting worse because of corporate news driven from the top by the content editors who look to reinforce and stabilize the status quo. It is truly a scary problem if you think about when it began, how insidious it is, and you've been an unwilling participant all along and to some degree, me too. booo big news, gooo internet news.
    Google is just doing what is does and the web let us know of their failings.

    p.s. I watch Fox, CNN, and BBC who are probably owned by the same conglomerate
    TDubs

Add your response

Login/Registration is required to add a response.