With Google facing increasing criticism from newspaper executives (among others), its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, insists that the world's most popular aggregator and search engine remains a friend of the press.
But he also told the Newspaper Association of America conference yesterday that he was deeply concerned about the decline in quality journalism.
His appearance came the day after the Associated Press announcement about fining copyright violators. Schmidt said that had confused him, because Google has a licensing agreement with AP.
Google has long insisted that its use of snippets and headlines in Google News is legal. It also drives a huge amount of traffic to newspaper websites, which the publishers can monetise through advertising.
His speech was followed by polite questions from industry executives that only briefly touched upon a perennially sore point: whether the use of headlines and snippets of newspaper stories on Google News is "fair use" under copyright law or a misappropriation of newspaper content.
"I was surprised that the publishers really let Google off the hook," said newspaper consultant Jim Chisholm. "While Google News generates a lot of audience, ultimately, the question is going to be who is going to make the money out of that: Google or the publishers."
I consider the recent attacks on Google in my London Evening Standard column today, headlined Media critics are protesting too much about the power of Google.
(Sources: New York Times/AP)
