With Google
News set to leave Spain due to a new law that favors the newspaper industry
lobby, DW examines the impact of the new legislation in Spain and Europe.
Deutsche Welle, 11 Dec 2014
Aggregator
Google News will stop displaying content on December 16 in Spain due to new
legislation, the Internet giant has announced. The Spanish law taking effect in
January requires news aggregators to pay publishers for displaying content even
if they want to offer it for free. In addition, the law requires Google News
and similar services to pay a fee to the association of Spanish newspapers
(AEDE) for displaying content. A failure to pay the fee could result in a fine
of up to 600,000 euros ($746,000).
Small
publishers to lose big
Efforts by
the association of Spanish newspapers to get Google News and other aggregators
to pay for displaying the content of its members is likely to backfire at its
members.
"It
was short-sighted and relatively dumb because they don't see Google as a
partner in the advertising and distribution of the content, but as a
competitor," says Philipp Otto, editor in chief of online magazine
irights.info.
The new law
will lead to massive losses in traffic, especially for smaller publishers, Otto
explains.
While major
publishing houses can offset loss of traffic by shifting the location of where
content is published, smaller businesses are unlikely to move such operations
abroad. And their work won't be taken seriously online if it cannot be found
easily, Otto says.
"That
will bring with it many problems and will cost jobs at publishing houses,"
he adds.
Spanish papers on abdication of their king.
 |
| The major Spanish publications can publish articles in other countries so that they are included on aggregator sites |
German
publishers couldn't beat Google
In Germany,
an attempt to get Google to pay for content already backfired. The country's
2013 Leistungsschutzrecht (ancillary copyright law) allows publishers to charge
news aggregators for displaying their content. However, Google News was
able to circumvent the law because it isn't as restrictive as the Spanish
equivalent. The search engine can ask publishers to opt-in (to offer content
for free) or out of Google News.
Publishers that chose to opt-out soon discovered how much
they rely on Google. In November, Germany's largest publisher Axel Springer had
to stop blocking Google News from displaying snippets of its content because it
experienced a significant decline in traffic.
So Google and the publishing industry have to work together
because they profit from each other, says Philipp Otto, irights.info's editor
in chief. Publishers get to advertise their content for free while Google
profits by being able to publish snippets of the content.
"There's no problem. You don't have to make
regulations. It's a free market, and both parties have to work together for
that to work," Otto says.
 |
| Earlier this year, an open letter to Google by Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner caused a stir in media industry |
An unhealthy relationship?
But the dependence of many news sites on Google and Facebook
for traffic is viewed as a problem by many. Frédéric Filloux, head of digital
news at French business daily Les Echos, recently criticized the Internet
giant's influence in an article, "How Facebook and Google now dominate
Media Distribution." The relationship between the Internet giant and the
publishers is unequal because their algorithms for displaying content aren't
transparent, he writes.
But for Otto, the major problem lies with the publishing
industry. Several players don't understand how the Internet works, he says.
"Publishers can come together to promote their content, either by
producing their own things where there are links for users to come, or they can
work with other players."
Otto believes new ideas, innovation and collaboration by
players in the newspaper industry could help reduce their dependence on Google.
But there has to be a change in the mindset of publishers.
"[Facebook,
Google, Twitter and co] are their best friends because they are getting a great
service," Otto says. "That's why they should get rid of their
fear."
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