If it sounds as sad as I think it does, I worry that the ongoing debate (if it can be called a debate) about the evolution of newspapers in the face of Google has taken a turn for the pathetic. Jon Carrol, of the San Francisco Chronicle, a paper which has had to organize layoffs of a not-insignificant number of journalists, posits a solution to the Newspaper problem (you know, declining profits, massive layoffs, the diminution of a critical organ in a well functioning democratic society, etc): Google should just buy a few newspapers. Nevermind that Google has repeatedly said a number of times that it isn’t in the content business (all YouTube-like acquisitions aside). Hey, I agree with Mike Masnick on this one: it seems like the dialogue is going through different stages, with the latest stage being the begging/pleading kind.
Hey, I get it that newspapers — and journalists in general — play an important role in our society. And, yes, I get it that the public will probably be diminished by it as this shaking out of redundancies takes place. The thing is that I don’t think that its Google’s “responsibility” to do anything. I mean, Google’s responsibility is to make money by doing whatever it feels is best for Google and its stock holders. If anyone has a responsibility, it involves the people behind news organizations large, small, and in-between to try and innovate, experiment, and do whatever it takes to turn this thing around.
And as glib as it sounds, I also think of it like this. Someone, somewhere, will decode how traditional media can transition to something more meaningful and survivable than its current state. It may not be as dominant a force (even as an industry) as it once was, and I think we all have to come to terms with that. But besides that, I am convinced that whoever does figure it out first will really reap some big, big, rewards.
And perhaps that’s a better way to look at the “Google problem”, which is really part of the larger “Newspaper” problem: one of immense opportunity. I mean, sure, its trite, doesn’t it sound a little better and more productive than “Google needs to bail us out”? (And less pathetic, since, you know, its the company that most newspapers are blaming for all their ills)
