Of course, what Google really is--based on where it makes money--is a media company that makes money off other people's content and is mostly unwilling to share revenue with content providers.

The traffic it generates for news sites is compensation enough, Google contends, even as those sites find it ever more difficult to hire reporters for covering serious news.

Schmidt told the Financial Times that Google will work to help newspapers by improving the technology available to them, better allowing them to connect with (and monetize) readers. The suggestion is the technology will not be available to all newspapers, just those Google considers worth saving, including the Washington Post.

David Coursey left the daily newspaper business even before the Internet exploded into our lives. He tweets as and can be reached via .