Google News Cuts Link to News Website Financed by Water District

Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2011 11:26 am

By: Sam Allen | Los Angeles Times

Officials at Google News on Tuesday swiftly removed a website from its search index that had contracted with a local water district to produce promotional stories "written in the image of real news."

The move came in response to a Los Angeles Times article on an unusual agreement between the Central Basin Municipal Water District and a consulting firm affiliated with the news website, News Hawks Review. Under the deal, the water district, a public agency based in southeast L.A. County, paid nearly $200,000 to the firm to publish positive articles that appeared on Google News.

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Google News Cuts Link to News Website Financed by Water District

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