Biased News Coverage

As you may be able to guess by the title, I'm annoyed once again by the news media.  This story happened to be on the Today Show.


So once before the news media covering the "innovative" release of iOS by Apple when it included Siri for the first time.  I had a problem then and mentioned it one my personal Google+ page prior to starting this blog.  The biggest problem that I had was that they called it innovative.  To me innovation means that you, or the company you work for, created something that is completely different than anything else that is on the market.  
This means that the innovation by Apple wasn't really innovative at all for two reasons.  First, Google Voice Actions or Voice Search (the name depended on your location) had been out for a year or more.  Second, Apple purchased the company that created Siri.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it, they purchased the company.  But in the original story never mentioned that at all.  I wonder why?


Now they spent another 10 minutes talking about how the one year old innovation has "changed the world."  Then they proceeded to show people "using" Siri to do things on their phone.  The problem is that if you talk to most people that have used Siri, they say that it fails a large part of the time.  Which tells me that the commercials, and the story in the news, are carefully selected statements rather than what would happen in the real world.


You may be ready to call me a Fandroid but the problem isn't with Apple's product.  It really has to do with the news media covering it without covering or acknowledging Google's product.  Prior to the introduction of Siri, there were several products in the Android Market that functioned very similarly, including Google's Voice Actions/Search.  Yet there was no media coverage of it.


I will admit to being a fan of Android and prefer it to the iPhone but I am one of the few who feel that true innovation could not happen without both systems existing.  They are pushing each other to continue to think outside the box and create wonderful products that enhance our lives.  But the media need to report in an unbiased manner.  That is their job and what they are supposed to do.  Without an unbiased source, who can consumers trust?