Will Google invest in newspapers? Or in being put ahead of other traffic?
While Google is often the subject of conspiracy theories, it is facing two new ones this week.
One is that it could buy the troubled New York Times. Writer Andrew Klein claims the move would make sense as, in order for the search engine to have good content to link to, high quality journalism will need to enjoy a future business model. The idea is not an entirely new one, with speculation stretching back at least as early as the beginning of this year. But the New York Times’ financial woes have given the debate new impetus.
Meanwhile, Google is also being accused of trying to do deals with ISPs to get its traffic priority on the Internet.
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