Image via CrunchBase
There are some things that I just can’t stand, and one of them is biased journalism. I took college courses in journalism and one of the most important things I learned is about objectivity. Now, granted, a lot of the stuff I do these days through my YouTube and on this site is pretty opinion-based or flat-out satire but I advertise it as such. So when I see an organization that touts themselves as a reputable news source being biased it really grinds my gears.
I commented on an article, about Google Now coming to Chrome, today calling them out for doing such things, and I do often comment on their articles. A lot of people happen to click the like button on my comments. In this particular comment, I did not personally attack anybody or otherwise violate any terms of service. They probably just didn’t like my comment. I do not have a verbatim copy of it, but it was along the following lines.
I sensed the use of “interestingly” in the article as unnecessary criticism of how the Google Now platform uses phone-based location data to provide location-based notifications for commutes\traffic\weather. If you ask me, it only makes sense. People usually have their phones with them when they are on a computer. There are very few, if any, computers that have internal GPS equipment. Since a person with a phone on their person will have relatively accurate location depending on their GPS settings, then the information presented by Google Now in Chrome will mirror that of Google Now on Android or iOS.
Following that, I called them out for being biased, thinking back to this article on how they hugely ignored some major features recently introduced to the OS. The angle of their story made it look as if they were essentially mocking FM Radio as being the big new feature release in addition to some other minor things. They made a brief mention of the Android app sandboxing in an addendum.
Now, back to the issue at hand, I’m pretty irritated they deleted my comment on that Google Now article. I’d love to know on what grounds, seeing as I did not personally attack anybody or use any vulgar language. I exercised my first amendment rights to express my dissatisfaction with their biased reporting. Maybe I’ll switch to reading TechCrunch or something. Does anybody know of a good alternative to Engadget? Where do you get your tech news?
Featured Image: engadget logo (Photo credit: imjoshdotcom)
