Google mulls paying media

San Francisco - Negotiations between the Internet giant and news outlets were said to be in the early stages.

Google is in discussions on deals to pay media organisations for content, a move aimed at blunting criticism that it unfairly profits from copyrighted news, according to people familiar with the talks.
Negotiations between the Internet giant and news outlets were said to be in the early stages, with most of the publishers located in France and other parts of Europe. Paying for news would diverge from the Alphabet-owned Internet titan's practice of freely mining the Web for material it displays in search results.
A deal would likely be welcomed by news organisations that contend Google derives profits from ads alongside their news articles, including "snippets" in search results.
When contacted, Google indicated it is seeking new ways to help publishers. "We want to help people find quality journalism - it's important to informed democracy and helps support a sustainable news industry," Google vice-president of news Richard Gingras said in a statement.