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09 Oct 2007
Google has been accused of being too left wing after it commemorated the 50-year anniversary of the launch of the first satellite.
Right-wing bloggers and magazines have condemned the company for what they believe are "anti-American" attitudes.
Google recently modified its home-page logo to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the Sputnik launch.
"It's a kick to your belly," conservative blogger Giovanni Gallucci told the LA Times.
"I understand these guys are scientists and engineers and they have their quirks and want to make sure people are recognised who might not normally be recognised, but why not celebrate the struggles that we've come through as a people?"
Google has also been accused of not doing enough to commemorate American holidays. While the company does commemorate major holidays it chooses not to change its logo for minor holidays.
"When they ignore Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I think they're telling us something about the way they view America," said Joseph Farah, editor of WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative website that has criticised Google's logo decisions.
The company has defended its record. "Google's special logos tend to be light-hearted and often scientific in nature," said spokeswoman Sunny Gettinger.
"We do not believe we can convey the appropriate sombre tone through this medium to mark holidays like Memorial Day."
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Left Wing Software - CoolIris
I was using a FireFox Add-On the other day - CoolIris.. Pretty cool stuff. But then I realized that it was for the most part all ABC News clips... and the software is endorsed by the New York Times... Really - Left Wing Software? What has this world come to.
Posted by: Eric Bickmann 15 Sep 2008
I'm familiar with the case Mike
Although Google are saying it's because the anti-MoveOn thing would breach copyright, not because of the content. At least, that's its explanation. Thankfully, because of the nature of the internet, censorship seldom works, for whatever reason.
Posted by: Iain Thomson 16 Oct 2007
Net Bias
You were a day or two too early. Far more relvant is that Google is blocking anti-MoveOn.org ads. As you may know MoveOn is a left wing organization (funded by Soros) that promotes left wing causes - whether you are left or right the point is you have a powerful company 'deciding' what should and should not be advertised. It is their prerogative of cause, but it does call into question this whole ideaof net neutrality. In theory the Net could be as neutral as ever, but if portals go around censoring what is available - especially powerful portals claiming to 'Do no evil' then who knows where this leads. Quite clearly Google is pursuing a form of censorship.
Posted by: Mike Morris 12 Oct 2007
Back to the point...
The fact remains that the launch of Sputnik IS A HISTORICAL EVENT that does not depend on your point of view. It happened. Except the right wingers are trying to censor historical fact because it doesn't fit their point of view of USA always being first and best. Stalin would be proud of their attempts at re-writing history! As far as anti -MoveOn adverts go I say it's good that they were stopped - it's not historical fact they are stopping reporting - it's an opinionated political advert - and Google have the right to stop adverts they find break their advertising code just like every other media outlet does. And if that seems unfair then it surely only balances the censorship that is commonplace in the right-wing media. I see right-wing bias everyday in the US media. Why is that deemed OK but Google are wrong? What's the fuss about? More right-wing bullying?
Posted by: Andrew Saxon 12 Oct 2007
Information is power
Thanks VNUNET for running this story - my Dad told me about how absurd some right-wing loonies were being about Google's perceived lack of patriotism. We're sick of right-wing Americans here in the UK but Google is well respected for it's progressive and balanced view of the world. If only more Americans were like Google then we wouldn't hate them so much...
Posted by: Andrew Saxon 11 Oct 2007
americanSuck
the russians where first in space, right ? so .. what's your problem ?
Posted by: some one 10 Oct 2007
In response
>Would VNUNet run a story with the title "Google accused of right-wing bias"? I certainly would, if people of note did. There's no correctness here, I just thought it was an interesting story.
Posted by: Iain Thomson 10 Oct 2007
Can't believe this report
What on earth is this story all about? Sounds like reverse poltical correctness to me. I can't understand why you have run this story. They're entitled to choose their own editorial content. I can't see how any reasonable person would find celebrating Sputnik offensive Would VNUNet run a story with the title "Google accused of right-wing bias"? Why run an article like this? Surely VNUnet isn't currently short of proper newsworthy stories today?
Posted by: R Sheraton 09 Oct 2007