The slow death of print media has been widely publicised by industry commentators in recent months, prompting online news providers such as The Times to charge for content.

WebProNews reports that Google is taking an interest in news content after Rupert Murdoch of News International was heard talking of blocking search engines like Google from ”taking stories for nothing” and breaching copyright laws.

Speaking to the American Society of News Editors, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, commented that the web is positive news for the news industry, rather than signalling its demise.

Schmidt was cited in Politico, as saying that online news content generation provides more source choice for readers, increasing the remit of news from its print shackles. Instead of seeing just one view or subjective opinion, readers are seeing a range of opinions and are thus able to draw their own informed conclusions.

”The web can ultimately be very good for news – you have more readers than ever, you have more sources, more ways to report and new forms of money,” Schmidt announced to news industry experts in Washington.

It is rumoured that Google will seek to develop new creative ways to make money from news content marketing, but as yet, no further details have been released. Nevertheless, WebProNews reports that the Google CEO did advise news providers to provide better emphasis on personalised news and mobile content, hinting that the search engine giant could be working on a Allvoices style content site.