Larry Page: ‘Trying to improve media’ is part of Google’s responsibility

New York Times | GigaOM
At a Google conference this week, Ted Koppel complained that media focus on sensationalist stories such as the Casey Anthony trial rather than substantial news, saying it “wouldn’t be a bad idea” if Google tried to direct people to important news rather than entertainment. The Times’ Claire Cain Miller notes that Google aims to present what it considers the most relevant results (though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exercise some form of editorial judgment, as the Associated Press’ Jonathan Stray has pointed out). But Google CEO Larry Page later said that “trying to improve media” is among Google’s responsibilities. “We as an Internet community, we have a responsibility to make those things work a lot better and get people focused on what are the real issues, what should you be thinking about.” GigaOM’s Mathew Ingram says Koppel’s complaint “is as old as the industry itself. … Are there too many outlets obsessing over Casey Anthony, or the Kardashians, or the size and shape of a specific phone that may or may not be coming from Apple? Sure. But getting Google to hide some of them and promote others doesn’t seem like a great solution.” || Related: Google Analytics adds real-time tracking