Bruce W. Sanford and Bruce D. Brown - Laws That Could Save Journalism - washingtonpost.com

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt tells newspaper publishers that the answer for journalism is to "invent a new product. That's the way Google thinks." But Google's products (and profit) would look a lot different if, for example, the law said it had to obtain copyright permissions in order to copy and index Web sites. Search engines have instead required copyright holders to "opt out" of their digital dragnets, and so far their market power has allowed them to get away with it.

It is unrealistic to demand new business models from the press without giving it the legal tools to succeed. Here are a few things Congress can do:

Bruce W. Sanford and Bruce D. Brown - Laws That Could Save Journalism - washingtonpost.com