60 Minutes at it again

60 Minutes ran a story on January 2nd about Google, its business and culture. At one point, Lesley Stahl does a Google search for "60 Minutes", which yields results she complains are "controversial" (the Drudge Report featured prominently in the results). This is a "problem" apparently. Here's the quote:

That includes the term "60 Minutes," for which Google's computers return 19 million search results in one-fifth of a second. But at first glance, the top results are all related to "60 Minutes" stories that have created some kind of controversy. And that’s a big problem with Google: Its ranking system tends to put negative events or statements at the top of the list.

Well, gee, the stories that create controversy are the stories that people are talking about. This is exactly what Google is meant to show - the web's concensus of what is most important about any given topic. What is the problem with this?

Basically, Lesley wants Google to act as a PR service of CBS, only presenting results in a non-controversial and respectful manner. I mean, CBS is the paragon of virtue and integrity, right? It would be unseemly to give any attention to those nasty right-wingers who might criticize the demigods of CBS.

Newsflash Lesley: Google doesn't work for CBS. And thank God for that.