Google shapes newspaper writing
The Times of London is training journalists in making their articles show up at the top of Google’s unpaid search results. “You make sure key phrases and topic words are embedded in the top paragraph and headlines,” says Zach Leonard, the Times’ digital-media publisher.
Newspapers are also buying search words on Google Inc. to make sure that their articles appear among the first hits – for example the Daily Telegraph bough [sic] the phrase “North Korea Nuclear Test” last October. As a result, users who typed in that phrase saw an ad for the Telegraph pop up on the corner of their screen.
As Scott notes, “This isn’t exactly news … [but] editors are far more willing to blur the line between editorial and advertising than they once were.” In addition, the line between cyberspace writing and print writing may become blurred, too, especially as much is made over the difference between online and offline writing.
