Google: We Have 'Moral' Duty to Help Journalism

We're not a newspaper killer, says CEO

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 3, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

(Newser) – Google not only wants big news organizations such as the New York Times to survive, it has a "moral responsibility" to help them do so, says CEO Eric Schmidt. He tells Search Engine Land "there will always be a market for people who read the newspaper on a train going to New York City." But that market won't be anywhere near enough to sustain the industry, which must adapt. In a decade or so, for example, he predicts that most people will be getting personalized news from mobile devices.

It will be "very targeted. It will remember what you know. It will suggest things that you might want to know. It will have advertising. Right?" He says Google—which he complains gets "blamed for everything" bad associated with the Internet, such as changed reading patterns—is committed to helping figure out new ways to deliver news. "We need these content partners to survive." Without "well-funded" investigative journalism, our democracy is in trouble. And while the world has no shortage of free bloggers, only today's established news organizations have the knowledge and "support structure" to produce it.

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, file)

Google's Eric Schmidt. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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We should be able to get very powerful advertising in display formats that people will like in this new model. ... Now I don’t know how much revenue that is, but it’s a lot more than they’re getting now. - Eric Schmidt, Google

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 14 comments

Cat-Lover

Oct 4, 2009 11:06 AM CDT

I disagree with Schmidt's position 100%. I've never read a newspaper or news magazine that I couldn't live without. Can't say that about the web.

luluzz

Oct 4, 2009 10:24 AM CDT

You folks forget that there is still a large population out there who love the newspaper and not technology. And no it isn't because they aren't intelligent enough to make the switch, they just like to touch hold what they read. One main problem was newspapers tried to keep up with television news and magazine shows. That's when the integrity of newspaper journalism started heading south. Then it was USA Today.... all stories had to be short, colorful, no turns etc. That took away reporters abilities to go into depth on any story. The internet isn't going to kill newsprint it's going to change it again. And if the industry wants to stay alive, they have to go back to the old days of reporting on local news. The internet and TV give us everything else.

Snowleopard

Oct 4, 2009 9:09 AM CDT

see, google's not evil.

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Google: We Have 'Moral' Duty to Help Journalism