Google Lawyer Says Search Engine is Good for Struggling Newspapers
As executives at major metropolitan newspapers futilely struggle to replace disappearing ad sales from their paper editions with Internet-driven revenue, one Google lawyer says the newspapers should think of the search engine behemoth as helpful, not hurtful.
Google drives a lot of traffic to newspaper websites, “whether news sources choose to host their articles with us or on their own sites, and whether their business model is ad-supported or based on subscriptions,” Alexander Macgillivray wrote on a company blog, the Boston Business Journal reports.
His comments were in reply to an Associated Press statement this week about copying and unfair use of AP stories on the Internet. In the statement, the wire service said it plans to crack down hard on people who copy and use its news without paying for it.
According to Boston Business Journal, Macgillivray wrote the AP’s angry statement “doesn’t appear to pertain to Google,” as the company pays AP for content under a partnership with the news service.
But, Macgillivray added that newspapers should be happy the search engine allows users to view headlines and short bits of articles because, “we show users just enough to make them want to read more.” He noted that newspapers and wire services can remove their stories from Google’s index if they want.
