Friday 31st July: Google's top search result is Google, and that's problematic.

July 31, 2020

Happy weekend (and end of July!) Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

Given the ongoing antitrust investigation, my top choice of story today is this excellent piece from The Markup. They've examined more than 15,000 recent popular queries, and have found that Google devoted 41% of the first page of search results on mobile devices to its own properties, and what it calls 'knowledge panels' - pulling content from web pages into info boxes so people don't then click through to the websites.

Google gets a lot of flack from publishers who blame them for the ills of the industry, and for the most part, I think they are unjustified. However, this is one area where the tech giant is definitely crossing the line, and causing serious problems.

In essence, Google's initial mission from 2004 to 'get people out of Google' has changed, and their new mission is to 'quickly direct searchers to great information, wherever that information is'. But how does that mission work when it comes to the company's other products?

By the looks of this investigation (which Google spokespeople have criticised as being heavily flawed), their top priority for search results are other Google properties.

Another great long-read for your inbox, this time from WIRED. This is the first of a series where the title will be looking at various ways in which the modern digital advertising market underwrites the proliferation of bad online content. It starts with breaking down the three main categories of ad tech, and 'the position they fill in the food chain of online garbage'.

Hands up if cutting stuff out the Argos catalogue was how you used to put together your Christmas wish list?! After printing over 1 billion copies since launching in 1973 (making it Europe's most widely printed publication at its height), the famous catalogue is finally ending its print run. For once, the pandemic isn't to blame.

One from our very own Chris Sutcliffe. The twin crises of lack of trust and falling revenue have exposed the sore spot where news and opinion clash to the detriment of the media as a whole. So how do we counter misinformation from popular columnists without hamstringing their ability to attract readers?

This week's episode:

This week Chris Waiting, chief executive of The Conversation UK, tells us about the lessons his team is taking forward from its record-breaking corona coverage, why newsletters and live events are its focus for the near future, and what other news publishers can learn from its policy of marrying journalistic flair with scholarly insight.

It's boiling, so we'll probably spend any money you give us today on ice creams. Actual ice creams. Just think how happy that'll make us...