The Tech-Media Hybrid

You have surely used Google News, but do you know where the news aggregator came from and how it has evolved? You will after you read this brilliant multimethod account of two decades of Google’s technology-inspired attraction to news and its simultaneous struggles with journalism. – Susan Keith, professor and associate dean, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers UniversityThis important book takes us from the early days of Google to the new age of generative AI, documenting how Google’s ever-changing approach to news is driven by its quest for institutional power. A valuable read showing how our tech platforms, media, and democracy are intertwined. – Mor Naaman, associate dean for faculty affairs and the Don and Mibs Follett Professor of Information Science, Cornell TechGoogle News has long been one of the most significant technological intermediaries between news producers and news consumers. Qun Wang provides a much-needed in-depth analysis that covers everything from history to legal issues to strategy and takes us from the service’s origins all the way to the current AI age. This is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the continued blurring of the boundary separating media and technology. – Philip M. Napoli, James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy and director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, Duke University

Qun Wang, a former TV anchor, journalist, and news director, is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University.