Gal Mor, Tech News Editor at Ynet, Israel's largest Hebrew news Web site (and a former colleague), says
the new Hebrew Google News leaves much to be desired. Here are a few choice tidbits from
his in-depth review (in which he acknowledges his likely built-in competitive bias).
He said its choice as the first service to be offered in advance of the opening of the company's Israel office could turn out to be a mistake.
"As someone who could be suspected of having a personal interest here, let me say that I am well acquainted with the great flexibility of Google's search services, and I am a great believer in using XML-based feeds such as RSS to syndicate information. I also don't think news aggregators such as Google News or MSN Newsbot pose a threat to original content sites."
He said the pre-selected list of news vendors offers few options for personalization, and less than RSS-based services such as Microsoft's Start.com or MyYahoo.
He questioned whether sites that rely on automated programs to comb news sites on the Internet can be good editors. He cites a weak story on Israeli farm taxes as a poor choice for the lede item on the Business News section. He also said use of press releases as "news" is a problem. "Google News makes no distinction between ads and news, as journalists do. Thus, it contributes to ongoing whoring of journalism."
Another criticism: Google News in Hebrew updates too infrequently. Many stories on the site's front page were five, six, even 12 hours old, as he put "an eternity in the Israeli news cycle."
There's a lot more, and worth reading. Has Google slipped up? Or is this another example of someone jumping the gun and drawing conclusions based on too little research and understanding? Only time will tell.
