25 November 2009 | Author: L. Sutherland News Editor

Two more US publishers back Rupert Murdoch's suggestions

Rupert Murdoch's threat to pull content from Google in the hope of securing a paid content model for its news provision services has gained the attention of two more US publishers, both of whom are threatening to follow his lead.

MediaNews Group, who publish 54 daily newspapers in 11 states, and AH Belo have said that they will consider pulling their content after News Corp's announcement that it plans to do the same. According to Brand Republic, the publishers - owners of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News respectively - voiced their opinion following reports that Mr Murdoch was in talks with Microsoft about an exclusive deal with Bing.

However, while MediaNews Group said that it would consider blocking Google News from content that it will put behind a pay wall next year, the organisation would not block Google altogether, citing traffic as an issue. CEO Dean Singleton told Bloomberg: "The things that go behind pay walls, we will not let Google search to, but the things that are outside the pay wall we probably will, because we want the traffic."

AH Belo is considering its position and thinking about implementing online subscriptions, but says that no decision is imminent.

If Bing snatches a deal with top content providers, it's sure to be a kick in the teeth for search kings Google, but it seems likely that Mr Murdoch is creating a bargaining chip rather than a solid proposition. However, if many more US publishers jump on the bandwagon and join the numerous other news providers around the world that eschew the system, Google may have to re-think its strategy.