Googled: The end of the World As We Know It—that’s a new, not-so-flattering book about the search giant, complete with anti-Google comments by some media barons. Check out Nicholson Baker’s NYT review. I haven’t read Googled yet, but get the sense that Baker is much fairer than Googled’s author, Ken Auletta, the New Yorker’s media critic (photo). “So why are the prominent media executives unhappy?” Baker asks. “Because Google is making lots of ad money, and there’s only so much ad money to go around.”
I’m highly anti-Google on some issues such as the proposed Google Books Settlement, but I believe that the company has done far more good than harm by way of its basic mission—to help us find stuff. As for the news media vs. Google, don’t you love it, the way publishing magnates try to tilt the table by lobbying for me-first changes in copyright laws? Look, I know articles don’t write themselves—I go back to the Smith Corona days, and have spent months digging up muck on the deserving. But I simply cannot stomach overpaid CEOs blaming Google for a decline that began long before the rise of Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Full disclosure/reminder: I’ve been a small investor for years in Google for retirement investment purposes. I’d feel the same way if I didn’t have a penny in the company.
It’s safe to ignore whining media douchebags. They’re just like most rich folks: first to complain when they get screwed by the system that they use to screw everyone else. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
[Moderator’s note: Language toned down in edit. – D.R.]