Googlezon, the downfall of media

click here to see the 'googlezon' video


The short video in the link above shows a possible representation of the media if the hype continues about blogging on the internet and user created news.

The film suggests that the creation of Amazon, the extremely popular online store created in 1991 is at the very roots to this sensation. The automated response to what you buy and the suggestions that it gives you for new products starts the individually based responses in computers. Then in 1998 google comes along as the worlds biggest search engine that can link anyone to te site they are looking for in a matter of seconds.

When blogger was set up, many people rushed to post everything about their lives for everyone else to see, their interests, hobbies etc.

It suggests that Google and Amazon will combine into a company called "googlezon" that will practically destroy traditional media in an attempt to combat the monopoly power of Microsoft. With users posting up to date news about anything on Blogger (bought by Google), it creates a very mediated news coverage, with everyones political, moral and social bias shining through in their blog posts. In an effort to fight Googlezon, Microsoft makes "newsbotster" to introduce competition to google news. Googlezon news can email selective news straight to the user depending upon their interests, what they want to know about, and advertise products to them on a purely individual basis using Amazons suggestion alger rhythm which helps capatalism and consumerism survive. Eventually when Epic arrives, all democratisation of media is lost, as there is no choice between different stories, papers etc, where today we have many different newspapers with different political allegiances, (i.e. Gordon Browns latest budget hailed by the Sun but slated by the Mail) there will be none of that.

The New York Times made one final stand against Googlezon, sueing them for copyright violations, taking the case to the supreme court. However Googlezon would be found in favour. Shortly after, The New York Times would be taken offline, providing a print only service to the elite and the elderly.


This film adresses these issues related to new media technologies:

1. "E news" - is it economically sound, let alone ethical to allow a computer to dictate the news to us, will they miss out important moral issues within the story. The delivered product is by an automated system, how reliable is this? Can we be left in the dark if there are for instance power cuts or server break-downs?

2. Copyright Laws - Where does the law apply? No longer is it a case of black and white, but a murky area of grey where large monopolies can bully the smaller firms. Will there even be any laws concerning the use of other peoples materials, and who will they stand for?

3. Privacy - With the automated response system, analysing your hobbies, interests and so forth, even sites and web pages you have previously visited, do we really want to be looking over our shoulders everytime we visit a site? It aboloshes the traditional view that what happens in ones home is their own business.