A Google News experiment

Google is trying something interesting this week: It’s going to allow the people involved in a story to add comments to it on the Google News home page. So if you’re a subject of a story (or otherwise involved — there don’t seem to be hard and fast rules yet about who will be considered “actual participants in the story in question”), you can add your perspective.

It could be an incredible idea. Journalists can never get the complete story; unlike in the movies there’s always way too much nuance to explain, even if you’re writing for the Web without space limitations. A reporter makes calls about what information is most important, and that’s what he puts in. But sources might not agree, of course, or they might want to explain things in more detail. Google is giving them the chance.

It’s a different twist on the kind of participatory journalism that’s become more popular. Professionals still provide the news, but instead of adding useless perspective from Joe or Jane On The Street, Google will be allowing the right people to weigh in.