Mr L. Adimoolam, President of The Indian Newspaper Society has asked Google to compensate the Indian newspapers extensively for using the news content published by the newspapers and share its advertising revenues properly.
In a letter addressed to Google India, Country Manager Sanjay Gupta, the INS President demanded that Google should pay for news generated by the newspapers which assign thousands of journalists on the ground, at considerable expense, for gathering and verifying information.
Society pointed out that since the content produced and published by newspapers at a sizable expense is proprietary, the credible content has given Google authenticity in India from the time of its inception.
Noting that Publishers have been providing complete access to "quality journalism with credible news, current affairs, analysis, information and entertainment", INS stated that there is a huge difference between the editorial content from quality publications and the fake news that circulates on other information platforms.
Over the past few years, publishers around the world have been demanding fair payment for the content and a proper share of the advertising revenue with Google noted INS. The society also said that recently, Google has agreed to provide better compensation and pay publishers in France, the European Union and notably in Australia.
Advertising has been the backbone of the news industry, however, in the digital space, the newspaper publishers are witnessing a shrink in the share of advertising, even as Google is taking a "giant share of advertising spends", leaving publishers with a small share, the letter further stated.
Publishers are also facing a very dull advertising system, as they are unable to get details of Google's advertising value chain. The INS has asked Google to raise the share of advertising revenue for the publishers by 85% and also guarantee transparency in revenue reports provided to publishers by Google.
Bigger significance must be given to editorial content from Registered News Publishers. INS has raised the issue of giving greater prominence to editorial content from Registered News Publishers to tackle fake news, as Google picks up content from several sites that are not credible, thus "amplifying misinformation and propagation of fake news."
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Pointing out that the Society is in dialogues with Google on these important issues, the letter also reiterated that "Indian print media is the most credible source of news and information in the country, and newspapers play a vital role in nation-building. However, the pandemic and the current digital business model have been unfair to publishers, making it unviable for the Print media industry. We invest heavily in Journalism, the core of our news operations because newspapers play a vital role in society."