Google selling ad space in newspapers

Here is an article about a trial run that Google will be partaking in. It supposedly plans to sell advertising space to about 100 of its advertisers from the Web to newspapers "owned by The New York Times Company, Gannett, the Tribune Company, the Washington Post Company and Hearst". I think this is a good idea, as the article states, because the Internet has significantly reduced newspaper reading. I like reading something "hands on" but like many, I also love having the power to instantly look and find information with the stroke of a few keys on my computer keyboard. Google will be doing a trial period of about 3 months to see how the concept flies. Since it is already the biggest online advertiser I don't think it has anything to worry about.

The terms for it's advertisers to place ads within the proposed newspapers are interesting. They can bid size of the ad, placement in the newspaper as well as what day to run the ad and the newspapers can accept as many or as few bids as they choose. Google is hoping to target an audience of smaller businesses and retailers and the newspapers hope to gain some readers back. This aspect of receiving news is important as I think the credibility of information in newspapers is moreso than online at many sites (or used to). Also, growing up with a journalist for a mom saddens me to see such a decline in newspaper reporting quality as well as the number of readers.