Les Hinson,a Dow Jones executive and a publisher for the Wall Street Journal, referred to Google as a "digital vampire" ,and blamed newspapers for hurting themselves by providing free content to the web.
Yet, it is actually Yahoo who has remained the king in providing news content to the internet. This statement from Vinson shows he really isn't studying the problem and why newspapers keep missing the mark!
Yahoo! beat Google with viewers on news of Michael Jackson
Google uses automated software to pick and choose what headlines and topics it presents. Yahoo! uses real,live people. A difference one can see easily note if they read the news. In fact, there is a political slant to Yahoo! articles just as their is in the newspapers. The simple fact remains that good content still wins out.
Any blogger will tell you how Google search and other news aggregators give priority to newsers. It is automatic. Yet Hinson and other news publishers continue to 'pull their hair out' trying to grab back their long-gone audience. Still, one can give the WSJ credit for being fairly successful for charging fees on-line.
The internet gives choice. People can narrow the news to specific interests. Newspapers are locked into categories. "News" will always be viable because society demands it, but where people go for their news is the challenge.
Newspapers have come "kicking and screaming" to the internet. Whether or not they find a way to charge for their content will depend on just how good it is. You can't blame that on a powerful search engine.
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