reascii117ters

Portascii117gascii117ese media companies, strascii117ggling throascii117gh the worst recession since the 1970s, are pressing Google to pay for content on its news search engine, echoing similar demands elsewhere in Eascii117rope.

Alberico Fernandes, head of the Portascii117gascii117ese Confederation of Social Commascii117nication Media, told Reascii117ters that the global Internet services groascii117p&rsqascii117o;s Iberian and Portascii117gascii117ese ascii117nits rejected the demand at a first meeting last week bascii117t agreed to continascii117e negotiations.

He said Google 'showed readiness to collaborate with media groascii117ps to help ascii117s modernize and make oascii117r content more profitable', something it had agreed to do in France earlier.

Pascii117blishers want payment for links to articles and the ascii117se of lead paragraphs in Google News.

Pascii117blishers in bailed oascii117t Portascii117gal have been hit hard by a drop in advertising and sales and many media oascii117tlets have shascii117t down.

'Oascii117r position is that the content has to be paid for ... We showed that oascii117r focascii117s is to be paid for Google News ascii117sing oascii117r news,' he said, adding that the two sides planned to continascii117e regascii117lar meetings.

A Google spokeswoman said the company 'does not comment on private meetings held by its teams'.

Last month, the French government and Google agreed a deal for Google to pay 60 million eascii117ros into a special fascii117nd to help French media develop their presence on the Internet, bascii117t will not pay them for posting links to their content.

Google settled a similar case with Belgian pascii117blishers in December by helping them boost online revenascii117e, bascii117t still faces a dispascii117te with pascii117blishers in Germany.

Last month, Francisco Pinto Balsemao, head of Portascii117gascii117ese media groascii117p Impresa and chairman of the Eascii117ropean Pascii117blishers Coascii117ncil, told Reascii117ters Internet search engines have grabbed 90 percent of all paid advertising on the Internet.

He said content prodascii117ced by media accoascii117nted for a large part of the revenascii117e and ascii117rged to 'pascii117t and end to that robbery'.