Jones: "There is a generation coming that expects to get their information digitally. For me, this is a great opportunity to have a new start."

Shane Richmond: "From a newsprint point of view wire copy makes perfect sense. It allows us to cover stories that we don’t have resources to cover ourselves. … Online, however, wire copy is redundant."

Yet again, an important reminder: Google News is a much smaller wire-service aggregating operation than Yahoo News. And MSN. And AOL.

"Publishers that routinely carry wire stories on their sites could lose traffic, affecting the prices they charge online advertisers".

"Josh Cohen, business product manager of Google News, said his company would consider eventually running advertising alongside the articles it is licensing from news agencies."