There’s been plenty of ink spilled, so to speak, over the whole Google versus newspapers debacle yet, for the most part, the search giant has been calm and unperturbed satisfied to issue out the occasional “you can always de-index” argument. Not anymore, it seems, as Google is on an all-out offensive, though usually with a peace offering at the same time, the latest of which comes straight from the man up top, Eric Schimidt. The CEO is making a case for the company with an op-ed in the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal of all places.
He doesn’t really come out with anything new in the lengthy piece but he does go through all of the main arguments the company has been making for a while, Google doesn’t really make that much from news content, it’s not “stealing” the content and is actually sending news sites a lot of free traffic.
“With dwindling revenue and diminished resources, frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame. Much of their anger is currently directed at Google, whom many executives view as getting all the benefit from the business relationship without giving much in return. The facts, I believe, suggest otherwise,” Schmidt starts off by acknowledging the problems the industry is facing.
Even tho… (read more)