We often fault the main stream media for being overtly liberal concerning both it’s reporting point of reference and it’s editing choices. Sometime the criticism is unwarranted, but sometimes there is substance to it. Yesterday, I wrote about a blogger complaining that Republicans are not talking about jobs or the economy. I wrote this:
It’s not that Republicans are not talking about jobs and the economy… It, well, the same ‘ol thing… The media is not interested in what Republicans have to say about it. So, they report on “The Gay” thing instead! So, if you don’t dig, you think “The Gay” is more important, because that is what the media is focusing on.
Wonder why?
There is little doubt that, when it comes to reporting anything that has to do with Conservatives, mass media will invariably focus on more controversial things. Michelle Bachmann versus gays are big on the media circuit (circus?) right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that shouldn’t be news, but it will be the only news about Backmann. Which is why Rauch doesn’t seem to think Republicans are talking about anything other than gays. And nothing else she does or says will push the gay stuff off the front page, unless it’s learned that she tortures and eat kittens! THAT would certainly push the gay thing out of the way!
There is another bias out there that gets much less attention, and that is the apparent bias toward liberal subject matter built in to the Google search engine. I encountered it while I was gathering information for the previous post. This isn’t the first time I had noticed it. Some time ago, the hosting service for my blog had a major crash. My blog was off line for almost three weeks. Naturally, once I regained access to my blog data, I changed services. When you switch server hosting companies, it takes a while for your blog to show up in a Google inquiry. I would on occasion type my blog name into the Google search engine to see what would come up. When Sonicfrog.net finally did show up, I thought the posts that were listed were interesting. They weren’t based on the most amount of hits to a post or comments that the posts had received, it was based on subject matter. In this case Global Warming.
I’ve written a lot of posts about global warming, few of them flattering, but the three posts that have emerged in the Google search are, if you just read the titles, they are somewhat positively supportive of global warming. Global Warming Fixed! reads one title. The second one from the Google search is Huge Climate Story – Honesty!. The third on the list reads favorably if you leave off the first bit of the title – Failed Meme Alert – Hottest Year Ever! . Even though many of the other 200 sum-odd posts concerning global warming and climate change have had more hits, they don’t come up on a Google search. Those have title such as More Little Deaths For The Hockey Stick, and The Case To Disolve The Corrupt IPCC. One climate post that got many hits and comments is called Why Climate Scientists Should NEVER Be Trusted With The Fate Of The World. Pt 2. I think “More Little Deaths’ garnered the most comments of any post I’ve ever written, except for the one where I got into a huge blargument with Patterico. Patterico is a well known blogger with lots of traffic, yet that doesn’t matter for Google Search. I’ve had a number of posts linked to one of the most highly trafficked bloggers on the web, Instapundit. Yet – that also holds no import in the Google metric.
Which brings me back to something I noticed yesterday…
When you type in the term “Rush Limbaugh Jobs” into the Google News search engine, instead of getting stuff that Rush actually said about the economy and jobs… You get… What Media Matters and other liberals say about Rush Limbaugh’s take on the ATF and his new line of tea! Because, you know, Rush Limbaugh NEVER talks about the sour economy or stuff like that. Here are the result from a regular Google search. Not much better.
My blog-pal Dan at Gay Patriot has chimed in and adds supporting evidence to my observation:
I too have noted Google’s bias with Media Mutters and Talking Points and other leftie sites receiving prominence. When I did a search for where’s the Democratic plan to save Medicare, the top hit I got was the Daily Kos
Which, in turn (some would say “finally”) brings me to the main point of this post. I haven’t checked Yahoo or Bing yet, and they may be more info-neutral, but since Google is by far the most dominant of the search engines out there, if Google is truly favoring left / liberal biases in its search matrics, is it time for Conservatives to launch their own search engine service? I mean, this is why Conservative talk radio and FOX news have been so successful. There was an open niche, a political vacuum, just waiting to be filled! It’s why Daily KOS became so popular from it’s launch during the later part of the Bush years. There was a huge amount of political pressure building on the progressive side that was ready for an outlet, and KOS was a perfect vehicle for that. Is Google creating the same political void that some enterprising Conservatives will no doubt try to fill?
I would hate to see it on the one hand, because I think something like a search engine should be as politically neutral as possible. But, if Google continues on the road it’s on and continues to structure its searches based on things of liberal importance… well… I wouldn’t be surprised if someone will soon fill the gap with a conservative based search engine.
PS. If this happens, I want everyone to remember… It Was My Idea! I Demand Some Monetary Compensation For This!!! 🙂
Music / Video | Sonicfrog July 12, 2011 | 
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