PaidContent.org, the indispensable online resource for anything having to do with digital content, had a note today congratulating Google for allowing CNET News back in to the fold of media the search company deemed access-worthy. Fourteen months ago, CNET reporter Elinor Mills ran a search on Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealing some innocuous, but personal info, which she deemed newsworthy. Writing about it then, I chastised Google’s PR guy for apparently succumbing to whims of his thin-skinned bosses by banishing the news outlet for a year.
Water under the toolbar. Purgatory for CNET appears to have ended. Ms. Mills wrote today’s CNET piece touting Google touting the size of its searchable database, but this time featuring an interview with the previously slighted CEO. Smart move, Google. Blackballing reporters from legitimate news organizations generally does not produce the desired result. (And there are other ways to skin a cnet.)