Aug 17 2007
Google News and "The Right to Respond"
You gotta applaud Google for its recent decision to allow people to comment on news stories in which they are featured. Reminds me of the March 2007 post by journalist/blogger Tom Foremski, in which he argues that “the right to respond” should be a rule of engagement on the Internet.
“Publishing a response to a critic is not enough because it is unlikely to be ranked on the first page of search results. Similarly, if a critic were to change their mind about a company, an individual, or product–the search engines could still be serving up the original complaint on that crucial first page of results. This is a serious problem in terms of reputation management for companies, and it will increasingly affect individuals too as they seek new jobs, new partners, etc.”
I agree with Tom, and in the age of conversation, it seems odd — if not unfair — that the subject of a news story cannot directly comment on or refute the story. But while this may be a big step for Google, it’s a relatively small step for Internet journalism. Until news organizations uniformly begin to allow comments, the “Right to Respond” will remain elusive.
