News aggregator defends itself against news publishers

Posted by Nestor Bailly on November 5, 2009 at 4:38 PM

Newsnow.co.uk, the UK's largest news aggregator with a 20% market share second only to Google, posted a public letter on its home page regarding the multiple legal actions it faces from several news publishers.

In an open letter addressed to the UK's newspapers, particularly the Times, Sun, Guardian and Daily Mail, Newsnow.co.uk claimed that their service does nothing to detract from the revenue of newspapers, and that vilifications of aggregagtors as 'content kleptomaniacs' are misguided.

Newsnow.co.uk's letter has so far attracted 60,000 clicks, on top of its normal 100 million monthly pages views.

The letter responds to the pressure and legal action from many UK newspapers that want aggregators to pay for their links and content. News International wants it to stop linking all together.

Newsnow.co.uk's managing director and chairman, Struan Bartlett, claims in the letter that "we don't redistribute your web pages to anyone. We operate within the law, and we don't do you any harm...We deliver you traffic and drive you revenues you otherwise wouldn't have received."

The letter points to the growth and nature of the internet itself as the reason for the decline of newspapers, saying that linking is the heart of the web, free and uncontrollable. Fighting the internet, Bartlett claims, will end in failure.

Source: MediaGuardian