There has been a lot of tension between the newspaper industry and search giant Google lately. Old media executives on both sides of the Atlantic believe that the Big G is going to destroy the business model of print media with its (free) online new aggregator Google News. CEO Eric Schmidt believes that a total misconception. In a recent interview with the New Yorker’s media reporter Ken Auletta, he said that media companies should see Google not as an enemy but as an ally that’s trying to make advertising work on the Internet. He even emphasized Google’s interest in a prosperous future of the newspapers. “It’s a huge moral imperative to help here”, he said. Google’s goal “isn’t to monetize everything. The goal is to change the world. … We don’t have an evil meter.” (more…)

Tags: google, Media, newspaper, trends

In September 1993, novelist Michael Crichton wrote a great essay in Wired magazine “Mediasaurus,” in which he prophesied the death of the old-fashioned news business and mass media—specifically newspapers like the New York Times and the commercial networks. “Vanished, without a trace,” he wrote. (more…)

Tags: future, Media, newspaper, trends

Former newspaper colleagues always ask me: Why should we do Search Engine Optimization? We heard of this online marketing method – isn’t it kind of sleazy? And isn’t that a threat to our journalistic integrity?

I usually ask back: Well, doesn’t your marketing department promote your newspaper in ads, TV commercials and on billboards? Are you sure that’s well spent money in the digital age? And why shouldn’t you spend your advertising money where the eyeballs of your readers are – the world wide web? (more…)

Tags: Internet, newspaper, seo