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Why buy a newspaper when you can find the same content online for free? As this line of reasoning has occurred to more and more people, there has been something of a hubbub over the way in which Internet news could draw revenue away from more traditional companies. Now it appears the potential rivals are coming to terms with each other.

Old Media, New Media Make Peace
AP Chief Executive Tom Curley admitted in a Mercury News article that there have been some issues in the past. "The AP and others in the industry early on did not appreciate the value of the content and understand the economics of the marketplace as we do today," he said. "There's been an evolution in our thinking."

The other side appears to be "coming around," as well. Many Internet companies "have been quietly agreeing to deals that compensate some of the country's top news organizations for their content and help drive more traffic to their Web sites," according to Elise Ackerman, the Mercury News writer.

"The people who own the content did a lot of work to generate the content," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. "We want them to get the majority of the revenue from advertising." Google worked out a deal with the Associated Press in the recent past.

Arrangements between old and new media can "encompass everything from access fees to tailored news products to shared revenues from the advertising displayed alongside AP stories," Ackerman wrote.

Not everyone sees a bright future for these deals, though. Neil Budde, the general manager of Yahoo news, appeared to be somewhat pessimistic. "It has always been fairly clear to me that outside of certain content areas and certain audiences, it is going to be difficult to charge for what many news organizations produce in terms of news."

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.