Google vs. gannett, knight-ridder and the tribune co.
March 23rd, 2005
We’re at the cusp of a history-making battle over who will control information.
Over the past few years, Google has been doing an effective job of gathering online news from the Net via Google News. Then they implemented a technology that allows users to customize their own news homepage.
Well, the newspapers don’t like this too much. And they’re starting to take the offensive.
In France, Google is being sued over copyright disputes to aggregate content from a French news service. According to a recent AP story, "The lawsuit’s outcome will likely hinge on whether Google can persuade
the courts that Google News constitutes permissible ‘fair use’ of
copyright material. Legal scholars say Google could argue that it adds
value by significantly improving the news-consuming experience without
greatly harming ability to sell services."
In the US, our own giants of publishing, Gannett, Knight-Ridder and the Tribune Co., have purchased a majority stake in Topix.net, a news aggregation service that’s very similar to Google News. No doubt they’re planning on this being a competitive product.
This battle will have tremendous implications on the future of information. Newspapers have seen their stronghold on job postings and other classifieds slip away in the last decade. However, newspapers exist because of the news. If they ever lose that control, they’re out of business.
Imagine a world where all news comes from now-unregulated blogs and RSS feeds,
aggregated by Google and other search engines. Imagine journalists making a
living based on the size of their blog’s audience and regular readership …
maybe even being paid by Google based on click-thrus. Scary yet exciting stuff, huh?
Newspapers aren’t going to go without a fight, however. A very big fight, I’d imagine. They can’t afford to lose control of information, and they’re counting on the courts to protect their interests. What strategies both use to claim and defend ground in this war will be incredibly interesting. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
