NewsNow hits back at newspapers

NewsNow.co.uk has hit out at newspaper publishers who think the news aggregation site should be paying to link to content.

Newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph have all allegedly pressured NewsNow to pay to link to content on the newspaper websites.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp, which owns titles such as The Times and The Sun, has said that news aggregation sites take business away from publishers.

Murdoch has also touted plans to charge for access to News Corp websites.

However, NewsNow pointed out that rather than take business away from the sites, its service actually increases traffic levels.

Struan Bartlett, managing director of NewsNow said: "The big media owners seem to perceive us as exploiting their content commercially. They also assume that they have a right to impose charges and controls on what we do and are claiming copyright law as a legal justification.

"However, our business is not in reselling content, but quite the reverse. Our business is in enabling people to find others' content, then driving them through to it - as do most other search engines. We should no more be paying them money, than Google should be paying every website it links to," Bartlett continued.

The site has been drumming up support by publishing an open letter to publishers, telling them to embrace rather than fight against news aggregators, and to stop issuing legal threats.

"It's in everyone's interests that we restore amicable relations. We want to work with you to help promote your news and to drive readers to your websites, and help sustain a thriving news publishing industry," Bartlett wrote in the letter.

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