Google chief tells newspapers to lift their game

by Rich Bowden - Apr 9 2009, 01:43

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has told a gathering of newspaper owners that print news can still survive in a changing world; as long as they keep innovating.

Presenting the closing speech at the Newspaper Association of America's annual meeting in San Diego on Tuesday, Schmidt was quoted in a Guardian report as saying newspapers must keep up with the changing media landscape or die.

"I would encourage everybody: think in terms of what your reader wants," he said. "These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them, you will not have any more."

Schmidt was referring to the online media revolution and told attendees that the future would likely see most of a newspaper's circulation amassed through the Internet.

"It's obvious to me that the majority of the circulation of a newspaper should be online, rather than printed. There should be five times, 10 times more circulation because there's no distribution cost," he said.

In the midst of considerable recent acrimony between news organisations and Google (the Associated Press recently accused Internet companies of "misappropriating" its stories), Schmidt appeared to want to smooth troubled waters when he said:

"We think we can build a business -- again, with you guys -- with significant advertising resources, where the advertising is targeted to the content."

He added that Google and the Associated Press had enjoyed a strong relationship for many years.

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