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+--- Thread: Discussion How news link aggregators handle the search for the term "male violence" (/showthread.php?tid=1035)
How news link aggregators handle the search for the term "male violence" - Elsacat - Apr 21 2025
If I search the term male violence (no quotation marks) on news.google.com, the top result is this article:
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250416/Male-survivors-of-intimate-partner-violence-struggle-with-isolation-and-stigma.aspx
which is about male victims of intimate partner violence. Every article below that is about violence done by males, which is what most people are probably looking for if they search "male violence."
I randomly compared to news.duckduckgo.com, where the search for male violence (no quotation marks) returns what I'd expect, including articles I didn't see show up in the Google search result. At the bottom of the first page results is an article about male victims of IPV (not the same link as in the Google search results, but possibly the same study/topic).
I thought that was interesting. Maybe there are differences depending on search location or if you're searching in a language other than English/location other than U.S. Maybe one competing site comparison isn't enough. But it sure seems to me like Google News is boosting the "male victims of IPV" result for a search on male violence.
RE: How news link aggregators handle the search for the term "male violence" - komorebi - Apr 21 2025
There is a slightly less sinister possible reason behind this: Google search results probably bias towards (so-called) reputable sources like large media outlets, but generally speaking, those outlets never write about male violence. It's usually phrased as "violence against X group," even if it's entirely committed by males (which it generally is). More likely, I would consider this to be a result of a dearth on reporting on "male violence" rather than an intentional attempt to bury results.
RE: How news link aggregators handle the search for the term "male violence" - OffMyTit - Apr 21 2025
[quote pid="3402" dateline="1745257400"]
More likely, I would consider this to be a result of a dearth on reporting on "male violence" rather than an intentional attempt to bury results.
[/quote]
I think the dearth of reporting is an intentional attempt to bury the truth though.
RE: How news link aggregators handle the search for the term "male violence" - komorebi - Apr 21 2025
(Apr 21 2025, 1:33 PM)OffMyTit I think the dearth of reporting is an intentional attempt to bury the truth though.
There's no "though" here—I agree with you, but there's a difference between saying "News aggregators are intentionally burying the truth" and "Nobody even writes about the truth." The news aggregator is just that: a news aggregator. The real problem is that we as a society don't discuss the problem of male violence, except obliquely and only with reference to the victims, not the perpetrators.