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Google has expanded its controversial Google News service, adding an archive
of articles spanning more than 200 years, including stories from the Guardian,
Washington Post and New York Times.
Google News Archive Search allows users to look up articles from publications
dating as far back as the 18th century. Users will be able to read stories
reporting the assassination of President Kennedy, the unfolding of the Watergate
scandal and England's 1966 World Cup victory.
 The
current Google News holds articles from only the past 30 days, while the new
service can locate reports from specified years or publications. In a move
similar to its Google Book Search, the historical archive will allow users to
read extracts from a subscription site's articles-offering interested
readers the chance to click on to that site and purchase the full article if
they wish.
The move is likely to increase fears that Google is becoming too powerful a
force on the Internet and jeopardising the business models of traditional online
enterprises.
In February, the World Association of Newspapers said it was considering
legal action against Google News. Jim Gerber, Google's content partnerships
director, argued that the extension did not pose a further threat to news
companies. “The gut instinct may seem like it is positioned as competitive to
aggregators but, as you can see, we have aggregator partners on board. This
points traffic back to partners and that can be very valuable,” he said.
In the same way as it is integrating search results generated through Google
Book Search within its main search engine, Google is looking to include results
generated from the press archive on its main search engine. This could increase
traffic to newspaper sites, allowing media firms to earn extra advertising
revenue.
Guardian
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