Google @ Davos
January 26, 2007, 12:44 pm Searching for Google: Part 2
For journalists who wanted to spend an hour with Google founders
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the challenge was finding them. (See
previous post.) But the payoff was catching a glimmer of optimism
about the news business.
After tracing a labyrinthine route to Google’s meeting room,
reporters heard the search giant’s founders express just a hint of
optimism about newspapers, which have struggled to hold onto
advertising and readers as online readership has soared. “It will be
a long time before displays will be as good as paper,” said Mr. Page,
who gets his news online. “I’m still a believer in paper.”
“Papers will have to focus more on creating unique content,” Mr. Brin
added. “I think unique content is going to become a lot more
valuable.” He also said he worries about the small number of
professional journalists, which he said is too low for the world’s
information needs. “I think it’s a problem for the world.”
During the hour-long session, the two comforted the assembled
journalists by assuring them it wasn’t Google’s goal to put
newspapers out of business. “I would like to see a strong, healthy
ecosystem encouraging people to do what you guys do, ” Mr. Brin said.
January 26, 2007, 12:18 pm Searching for Google: Part 1
The most bizarre event of the week in Davos was the Google press
conference. Reporters were told to meet in the lobby of the Hotel
Europe. Once there, however, there were no signs directing them to
the site. Instead, they had to wait until a Googler mysteriously
appeared and led them on a journey that involved going up two floors
on an elevator, walking down a long and unmarked and unlit hall,
passing by the Hotel Sauna, exiting out a back door that could only
be opened by key, entering a door in a separate building that could
only be opened by key, walking up another flight of stairs, and
finally emerging in a large, airy room decorated with Google pictures
where Sergei Brin and Larry Page sat waiting. –Alan Murray