Google and Yahoo's advertising partnership is under scrutiny by the Department of Justice, and it's been attacked by the Associatin of National Avertisers.

At least 11 states are conducting their own investigations, and the European Comission is examining whether the ad agreement beteween the two Internet giants is violating E.U. laws regarding restrictive business paractices.

Now joining the fray, the World Association of Newspapers is raising concerns about the agreement, saying it "will have a significant and adverse effect on all newspaper publishers worldwide." (And as I've been reporting for years now, the newspaper publishing industry has plenty of problems...) This Paris-based organization represents 77 national newspaper associaitons and 18,000 newspapers around the world.

The association argues that the deal would siginficantly impact European newspaper publishers even though Google

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[GOOG  Loading...      ()   ]says the deal "is limited to Yahoo's U.S. and Canadian websites, and it will not have any significant effect on Europe." The association points out that many European publishers have a presence in North America, and more importantly, could unofficially impact the European market.

• Newspapers say Google, Yahoo tie hurts competition

These newspaper publishers are concerned that the deal would disincentivize Yahoo

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[YHOO  Loading...      ()   ] to compete against Google in Europe, and that the two companies control nearly all of the market in Europe, so if they chose to set terms together, it could have a particularly detrimental impact.

The bottom line is that these newspapers absolutely rely on both Yahoo and Google, and they like having them operate as two separate entitites because it guarantees that prices are kept in check and that they each deliver on their promises. That said, Yahoo-Google's deal does specify that it's only referring to the U.S. and Canadian market. So we'll see what the U.S. and European justice departments decide.

• EU competition officials probing Google-Yahoo deal

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