This newsletter is putting a reporter into the courtroom for the Google monopoly trial. You can get a daily update of the biggest antitrust case in a generation at Big Tech on Trial.
On another subject, the front page of today's New York Times business section has two stories about how big business is busily trying to evade recently passed laws (minimum income tax of 15% for corporations earning over one billion dollars a year, and California's proposition about better living conditions for pigs whose meat is sold in California) by pressuring the people writing the regulations.
"And Google’s PR team is already earning its pay, planting a story in the New York Times by Steve Lohr ..."
I read that article in the Sept 12 print edition of the Times just now. I agree that it's very soft on Google, and I would not be surprised that Lohr was able to get multiple interviews with Google staff in its preparation.
However, in characterizing this article as a Google "plant", I think you may be claiming more than the evidence you have presented warrants. Can you explain your use of the term "planting"?
As someone who was an onlooker at the second (1969) U.S. v. IBM antitrust case, I look forward to your in-depth coverage of this case.
Matt - excited for the coverage of this! Question - doesn't "big media" have some skin in this game? While I wouldn't claim to fully understand the fundamentals, it does always seem that Google (and Meta, Bing, etc) are always at odds over news aggregators and how they've played a huge part in the diminishment of the traditional media. Planted PR puff pieces out of the gate seem surprising; at the very least, I would expect traditional media cover this a little more critically, if not in an outright hostile manner towards Google. I know that's a big ask, but it would seem that, if only for some semblance of self-preservation, news coverage would be a bit sharper.
I absolutely love this, great call and welcome Yosef!
Glad my paid sub helped to make this happen! Keep fighting!
Love the enthusiasm Matt has conveyed and made real with hiring Yosef!
On another subject, the front page of today's New York Times business section has two stories about how big business is busily trying to evade recently passed laws (minimum income tax of 15% for corporations earning over one billion dollars a year, and California's proposition about better living conditions for pigs whose meat is sold in California) by pressuring the people writing the regulations.
"And Google’s PR team is already earning its pay, planting a story in the New York Times by Steve Lohr ..."
I read that article in the Sept 12 print edition of the Times just now. I agree that it's very soft on Google, and I would not be surprised that Lohr was able to get multiple interviews with Google staff in its preparation.
However, in characterizing this article as a Google "plant", I think you may be claiming more than the evidence you have presented warrants. Can you explain your use of the term "planting"?
As someone who was an onlooker at the second (1969) U.S. v. IBM antitrust case, I look forward to your in-depth coverage of this case.
Matt - excited for the coverage of this! Question - doesn't "big media" have some skin in this game? While I wouldn't claim to fully understand the fundamentals, it does always seem that Google (and Meta, Bing, etc) are always at odds over news aggregators and how they've played a huge part in the diminishment of the traditional media. Planted PR puff pieces out of the gate seem surprising; at the very least, I would expect traditional media cover this a little more critically, if not in an outright hostile manner towards Google. I know that's a big ask, but it would seem that, if only for some semblance of self-preservation, news coverage would be a bit sharper.
Yosef and Matt we are standing by! Show us "the light of day" that the elites want to hide. Thank you.
A propos of the coming trial, (and props for your commitment to reporting it), Reich's bluntness is refreshing here: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-awful-legacy-of-robert-bork-corporations?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=365422&post_id=135642362&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2noyr&utm_medium=email
Does anybody know who the ex Google employee was that in the video saying that Google has 175000 well capable employees who get very little done?
Cannot read the white text on green background. Change please.