Szell!… Szell!… Szell!
– Marathon Man

Sam Zell is going to lose billions on newspapers and the Washington Post has no idea what they’re talking about, says Jason Calacanis.

Witness this quote [in the Washington Post]:

“If all of the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content, how profitable would Google be?” Zell said during the question period after his speech. “Not very.”

Zell’s statement is so wrong on so many levels that you have to wonder if this guy has any idea what he bought, not to mention if the reporters at the Washington Post have any reporting skills and knowledge of the Internet.

Let me count the ways this statement is wrong:

1. Google doesn’t steal anyone’s content. Nope, they take a very short amount–around 200 characters including spaces–on Google News.
   
2. You can opt out of Google News AT ANY TIME.
   
3. Google News has NO ADVERTISING ON IT!
   

Additionally, even if Google didn’t let you opt out their use of 100-200 characters on Google News:

1. That has no impact on Google’s bottom line–they make their money from people running Google Adsense on their websites and Google’s own sites.
   
2. That only sends more traffic to newspapers–making them more money.
   
3. Google doesn’t sell display advertising on their site, so advertisers ARE FORCED to spend their money on the newspaper’s site.
   

If Sam Zell is the future of the newspaper industry then the newspaper industry is dead–you heard it here first. . .

Posted by Sam Churchill on Saturday, April 7th, 2007 at 6:10 pm.