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Earlier this month, folks from Google invited me along with Kara Swisher and Audrey Cooper for a conversation about the future of news.
Towards the end of the conversation, we were asked what Google could do in order to help the news and media industry. Obviously, we joked about buying the New York Times, but when asked, I pointed out that Google is good at one thing — software — and instead of trying to do crazy things, why not build tools that help the news ecosystem? Why not create tools that help data novices make sense of information? Or how about a smarter, simpler and more nimble analytics tool just for reporters? (Or simply buy Chartbeat!)
I forgot to mention one tool that they could build in their sleep, and in the process help not only save many reporter hours but make the news better, smarter and more contextual.
That tool is search — not the Google search as we know it, but a different version of Google-powered search tool that allows reporters to see in real-time past stories from across the web. That’s not all — the search tool would also provide contextual information about various topics, whether through Wikipedia or some private archive like Lexis-Nexis. There is a crying need for this tool, especially in today’s hyperactive media environment....
Om Malik on journalism, Google, search, media and more.