Google’s already under fire for its role in spreading “Fake News.” Now, one of the engineers who helped create Google News had quite a bit to say about the search site and it wasn’t flattering. Krishna Bharat helped lead the team the creation team, but posted to Facebook that Google News has become “shameful and irresponsible.”
Bharat, no longer with Google, was commenting in light of posts that incorrectly ID’d the wrong person as the shooter in the Las Vegas massacre.
Krishna Barat (via Facebook)
“Google friends — this is shameful and irresponsible. Time to go back to the tried and tested practice of showing vetted sources for fresh queries at the top of web search.
This would not have happened on my watch. Google News per se doesn’t feature 4chan for a reason. UGC is unreliable, and anything of value there will ultimately be screened by and surface in mainstream sources. Why not wait to be sure? You have a responsibility to get it right.
I’ll say it again: Get your news from legitimate news organizations and you’ll generally be fine. If there are errors, they get corrected and called out. Check the source of any information you’re reading. If it sounds outrageous, check multiple sources. That’s the best use of Google News.
Paul Dughi.com 