Nicholas Carr's Rough Cuts piece, Google in the Middle -- about how, as a news aggregator, Google capitalizes on the fragmented oversupply of news and the current structure of the news business -- is part of a fascinating online dialogue about the future of Web journalism. Go next to Scott Karp's pieces, on Publishing 2.0: How Google Stole Control Over Content Distribution By Stealing Links ("Google isn't stealing content from newspapers and other media companies. It's stealing their control over distribution" 4-10-09) and Mainstream News Organizations Entering the Web’s Link Economy Will Shift the Balance of Power and Wealth (10-16-08).
As Karp points out in his April piece, the backlash against URL shorteners (see Joshua Schacter's blog on url shortenders) and site framing (see Joshua Topolsky on Why Engadget is blocking the DiggBar) "is all about who controls the links, and which links Google is going to read and credit."