“Google paying publishers” is more about PR than the needs of the news industry

Mountain View got the headline it wanted: “Google will start paying publishers for news.”

Just like Menlo Park got the headline it wanted a few months ago: “Facebook Offers News Outlets Millions of Dollars a Year to License Content.”

There are lots of ways to look at how the duopoly looks at its relationship with the news industry — as generous corporate citizens who care about the information environment, say, or as a pillaging cartel ruining society by vacuuming ad dollars.

But the correct way to view Google and Facebook’s...