Should Google News be eligible for journalism awards?
In light of the controversy over whether Google News should have been a finalist for best Internet News Service in the Eppy Awards, the contest's rules for eligibility will be reviewed before next year's competition by contest administrator Len Muscarella, E&P Online Editor Carl Sullivan reports.
"I'm not saying that Google News would be barred from entering the news category again, but that is a possibility," Sullivan writes. "One frequent suggestion was to create a new award for the likes of Google News."
He also raises a broader question: "Perhaps the real question is not why Google News was nominated, but why traditional media companies didn't build their own versions of algorithmic news aggregators. And why cooperative efforts that could have eventually resulted in Google News-like services, such as the newspaper industry's ill-fated New Century Network, weren't able to succeed."
In a separate article, EPpy contest administrator Len Muscarella writes:
For the newspaper Web site executives that make up most of the delegates to this meeting, Google is both a partner (for both search and its ad partners program) and a feared competitor..."But the editorial staffs of the print product have always subsidized newspaper Web sites. And the most successful newspaper Web sites, such as nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, and wallstreetjournal.com, have annual profits in the $10 million range -- nothing that would command a capitalization like Google’s.
Whether or not the average Web reader even knows - much less cares about - the difference between Google's software-driven news packages and the edited packages of most news Web sites was never adequately addressed at the conference. But one of the best sessions on content included a demonstration of rich media editorial by MSNBC's Jonathan Dube.
Dube took the audience on a tour of truly interactive, game-like applications that have undeniable news value. The best of those was a game that demonstrated the pressure and difficulty of being an airport baggage inspector by simulating the conveyor belt X-ray system and challenging the player to make the right decisions inspecting the baggage, complete with unruly passengers complaining about the inconvenience.
That’s one that a Google robot will never be able to re-create.
May 22, 2004 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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