Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information

Daniel Trielli; Nicholas Diakopoulos

doi:10.1145/3290605.3300683

Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information

Daniel Trielli, Nicholas Diakopoulos

Communication Studies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

79 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents an algorithm audit of the Google Top Stories box, a prominent component of search engine results and powerful driver of traffic to news publishers. As such, it is important in shaping user attention towards news outlets and topics. By analyzing the number of appearances of news article links we contribute a series of novel analyses that provide an in-depth characterization of news source diversity and its implications for attention via Google search. We present results indicating a considerable degree of source concentration (with variation among search terms), a slight exaggeration in the ideological skew of news in comparison to a baseline, and a quantification of how the presentation of items translates into traffic and attention for publishers. We contribute insights that underscore the power that Google wields in exposing users to diverse news information, and raise important questions and opportunities for future work on algorithmic news curation.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	CHI 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450359702
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300683
State	Published - May 2 2019
Event	2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019 - Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: May 4 2019 → May 9 2019

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Glasgow
Period	5/4/19 → 5/9/19

Funding

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation Grant, award IIS-1717330. The authors would like to thank Chartbeat for their collaboration, particularly Christopher Breaux, Director of Data Science, and Jeiran Jahani, Senior Research Data Scientist. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their thoughtful input.

Keywords

Algorithm audit
News curation
News diversity
Search engines

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1145/3290605.3300683

Cite this

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title = "Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information",

abstract = "This paper presents an algorithm audit of the Google Top Stories box, a prominent component of search engine results and powerful driver of traffic to news publishers. As such, it is important in shaping user attention towards news outlets and topics. By analyzing the number of appearances of news article links we contribute a series of novel analyses that provide an in-depth characterization of news source diversity and its implications for attention via Google search. We present results indicating a considerable degree of source concentration (with variation among search terms), a slight exaggeration in the ideological skew of news in comparison to a baseline, and a quantification of how the presentation of items translates into traffic and attention for publishers. We contribute insights that underscore the power that Google wields in exposing users to diverse news information, and raise important questions and opportunities for future work on algorithmic news curation.",

keywords = "Algorithm audit, News curation, News diversity, Search engines",

author = "Daniel Trielli and Nicholas Diakopoulos",

note = "Funding Information: This work is supported by the National Science Foundation Grant, award IIS-1717330. The authors would like to thank Chartbeat for their collaboration, particularly Christopher Breaux, Director of Data Science, and Jeiran Jahani, Senior Research Data Scientist. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their thoughtful input. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).; 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019 ; Conference date: 04-05-2019 Through 09-05-2019",

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doi = "10.1145/3290605.3300683",

language = "English (US)",

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Trielli, D & Diakopoulos, N 2019, Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information. in CHI 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 5/4/19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300683

Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information. / Trielli, Daniel; Diakopoulos, Nicholas.
CHI 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2019. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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PY - 2019/5/2

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AB - This paper presents an algorithm audit of the Google Top Stories box, a prominent component of search engine results and powerful driver of traffic to news publishers. As such, it is important in shaping user attention towards news outlets and topics. By analyzing the number of appearances of news article links we contribute a series of novel analyses that provide an in-depth characterization of news source diversity and its implications for attention via Google search. We present results indicating a considerable degree of source concentration (with variation among search terms), a slight exaggeration in the ideological skew of news in comparison to a baseline, and a quantification of how the presentation of items translates into traffic and attention for publishers. We contribute insights that underscore the power that Google wields in exposing users to diverse news information, and raise important questions and opportunities for future work on algorithmic news curation.

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Search as news curator: The role of Google in shaping attention to news information

Abstract

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Conference

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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