tom matrullo's possibly adjacent blog

It's not news that Google News has updated certain features:

Google employs no editors, managing editors, or executive editors. While the sources of the news vary in perspective and editorial approach, their selection for inclusion is done without regard to political viewpoint or ideology.
There are no human editors at Google...Google News

Articles included go back 30 days. I wonder how it handles those news sites that lock up their stories after a week, lamely trying to monetize information that has already freely entered common currency. (I enjoyed David Weinberger's comment on this practice: The Globe locks up its content after a few days because it would rather make a few bucks than be a continuing presence in the world's global conversation.)

Speaking of which. In a story today about a NY Times NYTRENG exec announcing his retirement (at 57), here's the corporate line:

The company's strategy remains "to be the dominant news and information medium in whatever markets we go into."
On the news side, that can be defined as operating print and electronic news organizations side by side or by partnering outside the organization with separate print and television companies....
On the advertising side, the group has sought, when possible, to share advertisers under a combined rate and, at times, to target national advertisers on the strength of the group's combined circulation...

One possible translation: "we aim to control either via monopoly or keiretsu the flow of public information significant to the community we target, whose configuration is determined by the marketing agenda of our advertisers, to maximize return on our investment."

In a nutshell, you have the marginalization of ethnic media in the US. Is this not another slice of exactly what Janis Ian meant when she said,

"diversity is something record companies can't afford anymore"?

Your thoughts welcome.