May 27th, 2009
Sergey Brin: Newspapers can still prosper but need time to "figure it out"
Google co-founder Sergey Brin was cornered with a hot-topic question at the tail end of a press conference at the Google I/O Developer’s Conference. A “mainstream media” reporter from Australia wanted to know his thoughts on the fate of newspapers, especially since many of those outlets are blaming aggregators like Google News for their demise.
Also see: AP cracks down on aggregators. Watch out, Google.
Brin’s comments weren’t so much focused on the relationships between Google and the news outlets but he did take a moment to reflect on Google’s early days of introducing search and tried to relate it to the patience that newspapers will need as they reinvent themselves.
Traditional media, he said, still offers a lot of value but the disruption to the business model means that they’ll have to reinvent themselves by experimenting with new models to showcase, distribute and monetize their content. The important thing to remember is that it won’t happen overnight.
Newspapers, he said, still deliver valuable content to the world. If newspapers take the time during the transition, to figure out what the next model might be, they can have a “strong sustainable form of revenue” for the future.
Previous coverage:
- Google’s Schmidt carefully scripted at newspaper powwow
- Google can’t save newspapers; smart to dump print-ad project
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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