Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has backed down from blocking Google and says that he will let the search engine index his newspapers.
Murdoch went to war with the search giant over how and when it peers into his content, going so far as to call it “a parasite” that “steals” his content.
Google was unimpressed by this, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested that old media could not keep up in the new online world:
“In general these models (paid online content) have not worked for general public consumption because there are enough free sources that the marginal value of paying is not justified based on the incremental value of quantity. So my guess is for niche and specialist markets … it will be possible to do it but I think it is unlikely that you will be able to do it for all news.”
In reaction, Murdoch pulled up the drawbridge and jumped behind a paywall to stop Google from benefitting from his journalists’ work, and then saw his newspapers’ readerships fall.
“We’re going to stop people like Google and Microsoft and whoever from taking our stories for nothing,” he said two years ago.
However, The Telegraph reported that Murdoch has had a change of heart and will now let the firm back in with its indexing.
The report is light on details, and so far we have not received confirmation from News Corp.
Murdoch was rather glowing about Google earlier this month though, and, in a tweet about Google glasses, called them “genius”. Twentieth Century Fox also struck a deal with Google that will bring 600 new movies and TV shows to Google Play and YouTube.
This article was originally published on the Inquirer.
Related reading
Marking 10 years of DuckDuckGo: from search engine to privacy company
We mark 10 years of DuckDuckGo: from search engine to privacy company. DuckDuckGo doesn't track searches, doesn't create user profiles, and shows the same results to everyone. It reveals pages on which you'll be tracked and scores them for privacy. In light of recent privacy scandals, we may just need more companies like DuckDuckGo, who are working to make the internet a safer, more transparent, space – one that is led by the rights of users, rather than the desires of advertisers.
4 warning signs AdSense is ruining your contextual advertising strategy
Before assuming AdSense is the best monetization partner for you, consider these four warning signs—you may need to re-evaluate your strategy.
Five easy tips to improve the creative assets for your next campaign
Wrike’s Creative Survey Report uncovers some hard truths about creative and marketing teams, including which teams are most difficult to deal with on a day-to-day basis and other challenges creative managers and individual contributors face today.
Key takeaways from Google’s latest algorithm update
We're looking at Google's latest algorithm update.
