NEWSPAPERS are dying. Circulations are dropping and owners are desperately trying to find new business models to keep their companies afloat.
One of the reasons that people in the US despise the written word is because of the amount of spin that is transmitted by journalists.
And here is an excellent example of the kind of garbage that makes people ask whether journalists are in possession of their senses.
This is a case of a journalist swallowing spin from Google hook, line and sinker. Why does Google put ads in its search results and in Gmail? Simple. To make money.
The company gives a rat’s about who you are, what you like, or what you do. It wants to flash ads in front of people to make money.
Of course, your mail is scanned and, using word association, advertisements flash before your eyes. But there is one stupid assumption in this process – that humans are limited in their interests. There may be something that one is really interested in that one never mentions on Gmail.
That said, when Google spins about this process, pretending that it is doing people a great favour, a journalist should ignore it. Or else, rip it up and expose it for the spin that it is.
But no, this Los Angeles Times article swallows the whole explanation and takes it seriously. And the LA Times is said to be one of the better papers in the US of A.
Is it any wonder that people turn off papers in droves when journalists display the IQ of the common cockroach?