Both of your comments in this thread are correct. But it's also likely that someone inside Google kicked this off by compiling a list of sites which do make th

Both of your comments in this thread are correct. But it's also likely that someone inside Google kicked this off by compiling a list of sites which do make that kind of money, then suggesting it to the press. I.e., the "get-rich-quick" loving press probably had no idea that some (albeit probably very small number of) people make that kind of money from their Google ads until someone from Google told them.