Information Society Watch

November 12, 2006, Richard Siklos

Google's steady foray into video and radio has media giants sceptical of its intentions. The recent spate of purchases by Google of YouTube and dMarch Broadcasting, and its intentions to put Internet advertisements into newspapers, has people questioning if Google is a media company. However, Google continues to call itself a technology company, connecting users with content and advertisers with a much greater speed than anyother search engine. Many see this as a debate over subtle but important distinctions. However, it is indisputable that Google has become an important player in the media industry, by strategically cooperating in some areas with the likes of The New York Times Company, Viacom, the News Corporation through its MySpace unit, and Time Warner via AOL--and competing in other areas with them.

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