Google wants to prove that news is worthless to them. Their recent experiment purporting to do so has been met with deserved scorn and scepticism.

The fact they did it begs another question: what is Google worth to news?

The news industry behaves as if it is utterly dependent on Google. I mean dependent in the same way as some people become dependent on drugs. Even when their health and life are under threat, they can’t stop taking it, can’t imagine coping without it.