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Quoted in Google News? Post a Comment
An anonymous reader writes "Google News has a feature it calls "Comments From People in the News." (rude interrupting registration may be required) The idea is simple: if you have been quoted in an article that appears on Google News, you can post a comment that will be paired with that article. (Journalists can comment, as well, Google says, though none have done so thus far.) Since it was introduced in the spring, the feature has largely existed under the radar, with roughly only about 150 total comments having been made. Thus far, Google News has used e-mail messages to encourage people quoted in articles to submit comments — an effort to prime the pump similar to the process that results in the first issue of a new magazine magically having letters to the editor."
What is stoping me from saying that I'm some guy that is quoted saying something?
So...you skip the quotes in the articles? You wouldn't be interested if the person quoted posted a rebuttal to their own quote? Whether to say they were misquoted, misattributed or misinterpreted? How about if they wanted to add a more thorough analysis to expand upon the soundbite that the journalist used?
I don't use Google as a news source that often, preferring instead the BBC but if they were to adopt this idea then I'd be more than happy to see, and read, an extended analysis of the reported stories. But...you wouldn't?
Why?
To be even more contrarian, I think it is a GREAT concept to be able to hear more from the people quoted in an article, because the press has a bad habit of picking and choosing (taking out of context) their favorite sound bites. This seems like it could give a little more depth to any story.
Even if they do somehow verify your name, how do they know you're the right person with that name? I can't wait for someone called John Smith to make the news.
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Pretty much everybody is misquoted, Journalists do a cruddy job of getting it right, and in many cases they mis characterize quotes or paraphrase them. The operating assumption that people have when they read quotes in the news is that they aren't an accurate representation of what was said.
Sort of like all the buzz about Will Smith liking Hitler. It was a preposterous misquote, that was more than a little bit insulting the religions that teach people to consider every person to have a little bit of goodness inside of them. The extended quote was an amazingly insightful statement about the human condition. Of course that version isn't of any particular interest, because it wouldn't keep people reading blogs.