While Newspapers Threaten To Ban Google News, This Journalist Begs To Get In

from the not-your-site dept

Lately, it seems that most media outlets are up in arms over Google and other news aggregators using their content. So, it's somewhat ironic to hear veteran journalist, Robert X. Cringely, complain that he has wanted to be included on Google News for years, but has had a hell of a time getting listed. He goes as far as to claim that he is on a "blacklist" of news sources that are denied from Google News. While this may seem like an exciting and interesting conspiracy theory, I'd have to wonder if Occam's razor applies here. Most likely, the Google News product managers have made some sort of algorithmic decision figure into whether or not a site is included in Google News, and simply put, Cringely.com did not fit the bill. No harm or ill will need be implied. Actually, after looking at Google News' technical requirements, it appears that Cringely's site does not meet Google's requirements of a numeric URL or news site map -- so, perhaps the first step would be to satisfy those requirements.

That said, while Cringely does run an excellent site, he gives no reason why he should feel entitled to be included in Google News. After all, Google is incentivized to create the best news product that they can reasonably create, and if including a Cringely post would make Google News better for their users, then they would include it. After all, we are thrilled when Google News includes Techdirt on their site, but to this date, it is a mystery to us which posts are included -- and we don't feel entitled to that inclusion. That said, Cringely's ire is a reminder to the media outlets that there are plenty of sites that would love to take their place in news aggregators, if the opportunity should arise, so perhaps they should count their blessings for now.

Filed Under: google news, journalism, robert x. cringely
Companies: google