Zell Wants End to Web's Free Ride

Washington Post
I'm not a businessperson, but I am a vast consumer of news. And except for the top 5 or 6 papers I visit every day regardless, my visits to other media websites - and exposure to their ads - are generated entirely by Google News. Google News doesn't aggregate entire stories, which this story and/or Mr. Zell appear to imply, just a few words.

Mr. Zell is a fool if he thinks that the couple of lines that appear with a Google News hit are stolen intellectual property, worth more than the visit generated to the website where the story actually appears. If not for that referral, the content and its accompanying advertising would be the tree falling unnoticed in the forest to all but the core readership of local subscribers. And I'm pretty sure the comprehensive media website business model depends on far more than their readership.