Google wants "friendship" with newspapers

Google presents itself as a "friend" of all newspapers and reacts to the measures announced by the Associated Press (AP) news agency against news aggregators. After the AP announced at its annual general meeting that it would be taking tougher action against Internet providers that exploit unlicensed content in the future, the head of Google is now trying to calm things down. According to Pressetext.ch, Schmidt does not want to accept the frequent accusation that Google News undermines the copyrights of newspapers. "From our point of view, there is always a tension around the issue of fair use and it's about balancing consumer interests," says the Google boss and calls on newspapers to think in terms of readers' needs.
Over the years, Google has repeatedly been criticized for its news search, but has now been able to achieve numerous collaborations, most recently with various news agencies. Schmidt told Pressetext that he was surprised that many media reported that the AP was directly attacking Google with its announcement. After all, the company has only recently concluded licensing agreements with the news agency and can therefore use AP articles legally, he emphasizes.