Google Develops Plan To Save Newspapers From Google

After years of being accused of playing the role of all four horsemen in the apocalypse of tradition media, Google has just whipped up a feature that may prove to be the answer to paid content newspapers have been desperate for. According to Nieman Lab, the system would be an “extension of Google Checkout.” Ironically the plan is apparently Google’s response to the Newspaper Association of America’s cry for help where paid content is concerned.

The system apparently includes:

Subscriptions across multiple news sites, syndication on third-party sites, accessibility to search, and various payment options, including small fees for access to individual pieces of content (known as micropayments).

Not earth-shattering, but somehow you get the sense Google would have a better job applying a paid-content framework than, say, individual papers like the New York Times. It’s not clear exactly what their cut of the profits would be, but Neiman Lab is guestimating somewhere around 40%, which is twice as much as Steve Brill’s pay-for-news project Journalism Online will be charging as a commission fee.

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