Google CEO Eric Schmidt to Newspaper Association of America - Change or Die

Image via Wikipedia

Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke at a convention of the Newspaper Association of America in San Diego earlier today, telling newspaper executives to create a “new format” for news - one that gives consumers more ways to personalize the news they read.

Mr. Schmidt is quoted as saying:

“We think we can build a business with you. That is the only solution we can see.”

With the newspaper industry flailing in a sea of bankruptcies, cutbacks and closing print versions of their publications, the above quote is sage advice. What should be even more eye-opening for newspaper executives is the following statements made by Schmidt:

“Advertising still is the best way to reach a large audience,” Mr. Schmidt said. “It’s very difficult to hold information back” on the Web.

This is the kind of thing 10’s of 1000’s of bloggers have been saying for years now - Change or die. Yes, a lot of online newspapers have begun to embrace things like social media and search engines, but the majority of them have went about it with a completely anti-productive attitude - using rogue SEO companies to try an gain the upper hand in search and in some instances, trying to pay for votes on social news sites so their content gets favored over others, among other things.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt to Newspaper Association of America - Change or Die

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google Responds to AP's Tougher Stance (blogs.wsj.com)