Google as Journalists’ Invisible Research Assistant? The Impact of Algorithmically-Driven Search Results in Journalistic Information Gathering Routines

Search engines play an important role in the information-gathering process of journalists. This paper analyzes the possible influence Google has on journalists when consulting, selecting, and evaluating sources through this search engine. We conducted a rare experiment on site with 73 journalists working within newsrooms in the Netherlands. We, firstly, find that all participating journalists use Google and mainly remain on the first page of results. Secondly, our analysis shows that journalists consult the sources that are offered on the first page of results. We do find that algorithmic logic had no significant effects on the perception of the evaluation of the sources.