Spanish newspapers want Google News to stay
15 Dec 2014
Only hours before Google shuts down its Google News service in the country on Tuesday in response to a Spanish law that would force it to pay for article results (See: Google to shut down Google News service in Spain), the Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association (AEDE) was asking for the government to facilitate Google's return, engadget.com reported.
According to the AEDE Google was too "dominant" in the market to simply leave, and that its absence would "undoubtedly have a negative impact" on both businesses and the public. AEDE said it was willing to negotiate to keep Google News around, but it believed that Google refused to take a "neutral stance."
The request might be optimistic, as in effect the publishers hoped to have it both ways. They wanted Google News to return and bring them visitors, but they also wanted Google to stay under terms the company did not accept.
As it stood, AEDE acknowledged that Google was "free" to close shop without intervention. Unless newspapers got the support they were seeking, they might have to either walk away from the legislation they liked or accept the new status quo.
Tech Crunch said that while newspapers had long claimed they could survive in the internet age without outside support, that was wrong. Given that the vast majority of news traffic came from search, how much Spanish newspapers depended on Google for their reach and visitor count could be imagined.
AEDE issued a statement last night saying that Google News was ''not just the closure of another service given its dominant market position''. It recongised that "Google's decision will undoubtedly have a negative impact on citizens and Spanish businesses''.
Google, explained the move, saying, ''This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it's with real sadness that on 16 December (before the new law comes into effect in January) we'll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain.''
