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Update: Google evidently likes the Reuters philosophy on this matter. The company recently tweeted the following message:

Original Article: For those of you interested in the online news industry and the never-ending controversial discussion surrounding the Associated Press, linking, fair use, etc., you should be interested in reading what Chris Ahearn, Media President at Thomas Reuters has to say. He appears to come from the opposite side of the tracks as the AP.

Ahearn wrote a piece on a Reuters blog (Via SIA), calling for publishers, bloggers, aggregators, search engines and ad networks to get together and figure out something that works for everyone. Here's an excerpt:

I believe in the link economy. Please feel free to link to our stories — it adds value to all producers of content. I believe you should play fair and encourage your readers to read-around to what others are producing if you use it and find it interesting.

I don’t believe you could or should charge others for simply linking to your content. Appropriate excerpting and referencing are not only acceptable, but encouraged. If someone wants to create a business on the back of others’ original content, the parties should have a business relationship that benefits both.

Let’s stop whining and start having real conversations across party lines...

Reuters is clearly happy to take any traffic that the AP doesn't want, as evidenced by this recent tweet from Ahearn:

Reuters is clearly going to be more popular among bloggers, aggregators, etc. with this kind of attitude. And it's not like Reuters isn't known for high quality content itself. With a major publishing force like Reuters publicizing this kind of position, you have to wonder if it will get other major publishers like the AP its like-minded peers to re-evaluate their position.

Either way, Reuters is bound to get a lot of link love after this. That will be great for the news organization's traffic.