The Blog: Notes from the cesspool
By Dave
October 8th, 2008 | Leave a comment
Google’s boss points out something I’ve railed about before: blogs and Internet “news” outlets that play fast and loose with the truth and facts.
Advertising Age (adAge.com) writes: “The Internet is fast becoming a ‘cesspool’ where false information thrives, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday. Speaking with an audience of magazine executives visiting the Google campus here as part of their annual industry conference, he said their brands were increasingly important signals that content can be trusted.
” ‘Brands are the solution, not the problem,’ Mr. Schmidt said. ‘Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.’ ”
Yes, brands that build reputations for credibility, with rules of acceptable procedures. Credibility doesn’t happen overnight. But it can be destroyed overnight.
Meanwhile, the institutions that protect the integrity of journalism, newspapers and magazines and — to a degree — broadcast news, are shriveling as market share and advertising dollars migrate to the cesspool.
So the $64 million question is, who will uphold some standards of journalism if print news disappears?
See more about the Ad Age piece on Schmidt, CLICK HERE.
Our Daily Red is written by Dave Wilson, editorial director at DelMio.com.
