Google to FTC: Business Problems Need Business Solutions

Googleplex, 1600 Ampitheater Parkway in Mountain View, CA, from Franco Folini on Flickr

The following article by Pablo Chavez, director of public policy at Google, was posted to the Google Public Policy Blog on July 20, 2010.

 Google Vice President Marissa Mayer served as the co-chair of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy from 2008-2009.

Today we submitted comments with the Federal Trade Commission in reaction to the Staff Discussion Draft about the future of journalism in the age of the Internet.

We agree that the Internet has posed challenges as well as opportunities for publishers. Google works closely with publishers to find business solutions so journalism can thrive online, and we’re optimistic about the news industry’s future. But we strongly disagree with a number of policy recommendations set forth in the Staff Discussion Draft, such as the suggestion that Congress enact a federal hot news doctrine — something that would not only hurt free expression, but also the very profession of journalism that the proponents of hot news say they support.

Read more.