With more and more news agencies (like newscorp and the AP) demanding payment from places that don’t owe, it’s pretty clear that newspapers just don’t get the internet. It’s also clear they just just don’t want to try to understand it either.
Newspapers demanding payment from search engines is like grocery stores demanding payments from farmers. It’s like flushing the toilet before using it – it just doesn’t make any sense.
I say it’s time that major search engines and websites call their bluff. I’d love to see Google, Ask, and MicroHoo remove all Newscorp and AP content from their search engines. Give them what they’re really asking for under the guise of trying to get more money to prop up their dying business models.
It would only take a week or so before they saw the data (assuming that newspapers are even tech saavy enough to install analytics on their sites) and changed their tune.
In fact, let’s all stop linking to their content. If you own a blog, online publication, aggregator, or anything else, join the campaign and stop sending traffic to news sites that demand payment from those sending them visitors.
There’s plenty of news related sites and amateurs out there working hard to cover stories (not simply copy and pasting off the news wire) who understand the internet and are much more deserving of links than the AP sites who simply refuse to adapt to the changing times.
From here on out, I vow never to link to an AP or Newscorp story on dotCULT unless the news agencies pay me to do so. In fact, following their logic, I should charge them for all the times my other websites have been linked to and mentioned in the news. Let’s see Time.com sent roughly 10k unique visitors this year, and so did CNET.com. How much does NewsCorp owe me for that by their own logic? Where should I send the bill?
Let’s all get together and stop giving in to the whiny, nonsensical demands that the major newspapers are making. It’s the only way they’re going to realize just how wrong their position is.