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About Tuskegee, breaking the story, and Google News
According to this story on NPR (which I'd've sworn I heard last week, but which dates back to 7/25), the reporter had a hard time getting the story printed. The summary of the press history: To get the story on the AP Wire, an AP editor had to get one newspaper (the now-defunct Washington Evening Star) to agree to front-page it. Thereafter, the story made it onto front pages nearly everywhere, within days. On the one hand, the herd mentality that kept the other newspapers from running the story until one ran it is a creepy reality of journalism. On the other hand, the bravery of the one newspaper that did agree to run it is also a reality of journalism. What Google News could do is depress the ability of one newspaper to break a story like that into the national consciousness. If only one paper runs the story, well, it doesn't rise too high on the Google list, does it? What Google News is good for is the same thing USA Today is good for--getting a quick pulse. USA Today is broader but shallower--Google News (on my first glance) is narrower but deeper. Neither one really fits what I want to see.
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