Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
To readers I'd say, "take the rankings with a pound of salt and consider an unusually high ranking as more of a warning than a recommendation".  |
It's neither a warning nor a recommendation -- it's news, just like articles on what television shows receive high ratings are news.
Is it a form of news where newsmakers play the system to get more coverage? Yes. It you pay individuals to walk into bookstores and buy your title one at a time, that can, according to the OP article, make your book a bestseller, at least for one week. It is impossible to completely prevent this.
Of course, something similar is true of the front page news as well. If someone with high name recognition runs for president, and comes out in favor of torture, and then flip-flops on it, all to get free publicity, I don't see how it isn't news.
Search engine optimization is broadly comparable. Is it less bad to manipulate Google than the
New York Times? I guess, although I'm not quite sure why I think that.