Assignment 3 - Google News Vs. Huffington Post

In the not so distant past, one newspaper would be easily compared to another. Taking the Pepsi challenge with the Dallas Morning News and The Chicago Tribune would yield predicable results because the structure of both is very similar. Headlines, front pages, subject sections, etc. The same could be said for two news magazines. Remember those?  Newsweek and Time both had, at the core, a wide array of comparable sections and designs from the table of contents to the last page editorial. It is the merger of these formats, magazines and newspapers, where I believe Google News surpasses Huffington Post in the realm of news aggregate. In its design, the tone they elicit, the choice of news providers and the ability to stay relatively centrist in a polarizing media environment makes Google News the superior ‘product’ because, dare I say, they are more trustworthy.

A few weeks ago, one of my classmates asked the room to evaluate two websites for his job, JCPenny and Macy’s. Overwhelmingly, the class chose the aesthetics of the Macy’s site, rather than a JCPenny site that applied a large, red and black advertisement taking up more than half the screen. This is how The Huffington Post formats their page design. It’s audacious to the point of over exaggeration. It doesn't maintain a sense of dignity with this design. It models itself on a hybrid faux newspaper title/navigation banner, but delves into shopping market tabloid territory with its first half page of ‘attention getting’. This is in direct contrast in Google News, which opts for consistency down the page.

The pic to the left is front page of the

Huffington Post while the one above

depicts the exact same time of day on

Google News. It seems very clear the

tactic being used to entice your eyes. 

HuffPo only further devolves into a Slate.com twin that has larger than required photos and weak headlines. While helpful on mobile devices, the desktop version looks like a Reader’s Digest designed for seniors with massive font and titles void of any defining content.  

Google News drop down for multiple links. 

In the minimalist way that Google normally is, News provides more relevant content in a clean and structured manner that is not overdeveloped and exhaustively depending on a flashy magazine design that feels more like cerebral People magazine than news aggregate. It relies on the consumer to scroll down easily and has a lack of major advertising on the bulk of it’s page.

Google News is far more digestible due to drop down arrows that give multiple links to the same story topic. These links have the name of the source, which can allow me decipher which side of the aisle I would like to journalistic slant to be on, if any.

It is no secret that the Huffington Post is liberal in its point of view as a whole. Arianna Huffington makes the rounds pretty consistently on talk shows spouting her political attitudes. Her news site doesn’t so much as break stories as they give their spin on the interpretation of events that unfold and direct you to links toward the like minded. I am much more centrist at heart, so it was difficult to compartmentalize the biased leanings of the website. I attempted to make a clear distinction not to compare it to The Drudge Report, a very pedestrian conservative version of this site that I also do not particularly care for. One that uses scare tactics constantly in an effort to undercut the left.

Drudge Report's front page at same time as Google & HuffPo.

I am a staunch believer that all sites claiming to give factual news should declare up front what editorial bent is being reported. This can be compared to native advertising in that at the top of all sponsored articles it clearly notifies its true nature. It could be implemented as a standard journalistic practice throughout the country and would revolutionize media relations, but I digress.

At the end of the day, a cleaner designed news aggregator that stays relatively independent and trusts its user to elaborate further into topics and news analysis/ interpretations of their own free will can be trusted more. Critically, the bottom line when it comes to news should be trust. Factual information is the crux of why someone is on a news aggregator to begin with. Google uses multiple links to establish trust by providing all sides of an issue staying transparent in all aspects. A democratic population must trust the news in order to make informed decisions based on reality rather than perception. Google seems to be the clear conduit for disseminating all information, trustworthy or otherwise.