An End to " Google " ?

 A long time ago most Australian homes had at least one newspaper delivered each morning and every radio station relayed both the midday and seven pm news broadcast from the ABC.  We also had competing " afternoon " newspapers, plus countless " free " suburban weekly news sheets distributed by church and civic organizations.

That was an era when both the Saturday and Wednesday  newspapers were heavy with job advertisements and eagerly awaited by those seeking work.  All these newspapers were sustained by advertising revenue and little changed until television arrived on the Australian scene in 1956. 

That was when the way we viewed the news changed dramatically.  Television delivered a brief synopsis of the news and the finer detail was carried in newspaper reporting.  Competing newspaper, radio and television newsrooms searched for stories, until the advent of computers generated the phenomenon we know as " Google ", followed some time later by " Facebook ".

Google can be described as a " search engine " and the commercial world quickly tuned to it as an advertising source.  Today, we sit at our computer and " Google " a subject and are presented with detailed instant knowledge - and advertising pertinent to the subject searched.

Even the big city newspapers are retreating as readership drops and regional newspapers are closing down.  Google simply uses the material their newsrooms gather without contributing to the cost and the government is considering legislation to force Google to contribute a share of that cost.

Google is resisting and now there is the threat that they will withdraw their services from Australia if that threat to charge for news becomes a reality.  This free use of news services is a world wide problem and Google obviously fears that if it is decided in favour of newspapers in Australia that decision would have wider ramifications.  In Australia, Google is sustained by the four billion dollars in advertising revenue this search engine delivers to its coffers.

At this stage, the outcome is still to be determined by negotiation.  That threat to withdraw services from Australia is probably a bluff because four billion dollars in lost advertising money would certainly bring competing  search engines into the market to replicate what Googler had to offer.

Google would also be aware that should its Australian services be replaced with a competing search engine, that service would obviously look to expand into other countries and the world wide monopoly that Google enjoys would be under serious threat.

We would face a news vacuum if Google withdrew because in today's world " Googling " something has become a way of life.  The expected outcome is that what Google is expected to pay for news will be decided by an independent tribunal and will be less than either side is demanding.

It is very unlikely that Google will seriously withdraw its services from Australia !