Paris (AFP)
Google, in the middle of a showdown over neighboring rights, has offered to several French press publishers to pay them for information content, the daily Le Monde said on Tuesday, saying it was part of the media thus approached.
The idea put forward by the American giant of online research consists in remunerating press titles (from 100,000 to 1 million dollars per year, or between 90,000 and 900,000 euros), in exchange for the publication of their articles "in a space intended for information media contents ", according to information from Le Monde.
This space could take the form of a new search tab on Google.fr, or a separate section in Google News, adds the daily, who said that the idea was notably "tested" with Le Figaro, Les Echos-Le Parisien group and regional press titles including Ouest-France.
As the newspaper said, this proposal constitutes "a change of attitude" on the part of Google, while the group categorically refused to pay press publishers for content.
He had reaffirmed this principle in September, despite the entry into force in France of neighboring law: Google had announced that it would not pay press publishers for extracts from articles and thumbnails of photos appearing in its results of research, triggering a standoff with the press publishers who filed complaints (as well as AFP) with the French Competition Authority.
Questioned by AFP, a spokeswoman for Google, however, assured that the company had not changed in its position on the subject of neighboring law, while saying to think of new means of supporting the editors of press, by more of what the group is already doing through devices such as its media innovation support fund, Google News Initiative.
"We want to help people find quality journalism," and "we are talking to partners and exploring other possibilities to develop our work with news publishers, beyond programs like the Google News Initiative," said the group at AFP, without further details.
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