Google News, the search giant’s aggregator, has been the subject of criticism by news publishers in France over the past several years, who argue that Google’s practice of scraping articles, offering summaries to Web users, and selling ads around said results are costing the original publishers’ forgone revenue.
In a move designed to placate the critics, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday joined with French President François Hollande to announce a new $82 million (60 million Euro) Digital Publishing Innovation Fund ” to help support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers,” as Schmidt put it in an official Google blog post on Friday.
In addition, Schmidt wrote Google will work more closely with news organizations in France to help them monetize their digital content through Google’s online advertising network.
