Google signs deals with news agency

Original stories, from the source

Internet search megacorporation Google has signed a deal with some of the world's top news-gathering organisations after a long and ugly battle.

Google has often been accused of stealing news content by aggregating articles using its Google News service, which trawls the web for popular content.

The outfit's argument has always been that it was helping news outlets by driving traffic to their own web sites, but some organisations, including the Associated Press (AP), Agence France-Presse, UK Press Association and the Canadian Press don't have public-facing Internet presences.

There's no indication of how much - if any - cash has changed hands but journalism is a costly game and Google has very deep pockets indeed.