[governance] Cash-strapped European news websites ask governments to step in and force Google to pay for story links
Riaz K Tayob
riaz.tayob at gmail.com
Thu Nov 1 10:54:31 EDT 2012
News <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/> > World
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/> > Europe
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/>
Cash-strapped European news websites ask governments to step in and
force Google to pay for story links
Lori Hinnant
<http://www.independent.co.uk/search/simple.do?destinationSectionUniqueName=search&publicationName=ind&pageLength=5&startDay=1&startMonth=1&startYear=2010&useSectionFilter=true&useHideArticle=true&searchString=byline_text:%28%22Lori%20Hinnant%22%29&displaySearchString=Lori%20Hinnant>
Thursday 01 November 2012
European news organisations bleeding money and readers are trying to
avoid extinction by asking governments in France, Germany and Italy to
step in and charge Google for links to stories the internet search giant
has always used for free.
Critics --- including, unsurprisingly, Google --- say the strategy is
shortsighted and self-destructive, and the search engine warns it will
stop indexing European news sites if forced to pay for links. But
publishers advocating a "Google tax" aimed at benefiting their industry
point to the example of Brazil, where their counterparts abandoned the
search engine and say repercussions have been minimal.
The dispute underscores a fundamental question facing media agencies
around the world: Who should benefit from links to online content that
is costly to produce and yet generates a fraction of the ad revenue that
once allowed newspapers to flourish?
Europe has tried to sidestep Google before. Six years ago, then-French
President Jacques Chirac unveiled plans for Quaero (Latin for "I
search") as the answer to US dominance of the internet. The
multi-platform search and operating system was supposed to work with
desktop computers, mobile devices and even televisions.
Despite millions spent to develop Quaero, it went nowhere.
This week, implicit threats hovered over a meeting between current
French President Francois Hollande and Eric Schmidt, Google's executive
chairman.
Hollande demanded Google reach a deal with publishers over the copyright
dispute and also address the French taxes it escapes by basing its
European headquarters in Ireland. Google essentially reiterated a point
it made in a recent letter to French publishers: Paris' latest attempt
to impose itself would force readers to "Anglo-Saxon" sites based in
countries with more favorable copyright laws, such as Britain and Ireland.
Google's post-meeting statement said the discussions dealt with "the
contributions of the internet to job creation and the influence of
French culture in the world."
Adding to the pressure on Google in France, a French newspaper reported
yesterday that French authorities are threatening Google with a 1
billion euro tax bill and investigating alleged financial wrongdoing.
Google France denied being notified of such a tax bill and said it will
"continue to cooperate with the French authorities." Government
spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem wouldn't comment on the report in the
weekly Canard Enchaine, except to say that if there were a tax probe, it
would be covered by laws on fiscal secrecy.
French publishers, along with counterparts in Germany and Italy, are
hoping Brazil will be the proof that there is a successful way to
confront Google.
After failing to come to terms with Google in the past year, Brazil's
biggest papers --- representing 90 per cent of circulation --- decided
to boycott Google News by essentially making their content unavailable
to anyone using the search engine. The result? Negligible losses in web
traffic, the Brazilian papers say.
Brazilian newspapers haven't ruled out reopening talks with Google, if
the company whose name is synonymous with "search" agrees to pay for
their content. Unlike in Europe, the Brazilian publishers have not
turned to their government to act as a mediator or impose a tax as part
of their dealings with Google.
"Newspapers live off advertising revenues, like Google. They're our
competition and they have billions and billions in revenues globally,"
said Ricardo Pedreira, executive director of Brazil's National
Association of Newspapers.
Still, Pedreira is not convinced Brazil is a good model for European
nations. "Every country has a specific reality, and I think there will
probably evolve different models in each nation," he said.
Others in Brazil have warned about long-term consequences of the boycott.
Carlos Castilho, a media critic and TV journalist, writing on the press
watchdog website Observatorio da Imprensa, argued that the boycott was a
backward strategy, because "news is everywhere today and to surround it
with walls of copyrights is like trying to dry ice."
/AP/
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