As newspapers’ woes grow, some are lobbying politicians to make Google pay for the news it publishes
The real issue behind all this, however, is the decline of traditional media. In
France not a single national newspaper is profitable, despite around €1.2
billion ($1.54 billion) in direct and indirect government subsidies. Google can hardly be blamed for the recession,
declining readership, and slumping advertising revenue. Online advertising has
not offset the decline of print ads in newspapers. In 2011 newspaper advertising
globally amounted to $76 billion, down 41% since 2007, according to the World
Association of Newspapers. Only 2.2% of newspapers’ advertising revenues last
year came from digital platforms, and even these are vulnerable to ad-blocking
software (see article).
