To so extent I might agree that my analogy is not 100% the same. However, your's is not either. I think the book would be a better one. Assume
I wrote a book and someone takes an except from it and publishes it as an article in a magazine.
Neither I nor my publisher get anything for it.
While code snippets or excerpts from books fall within the category of "fair use", I personally believe the article snippets do not. If the article contains 1000 words, then a 50 word snippet is 5%. Do you have the right to borrow my book from someone who bought it themselves and then re-print 25 contiguous page of my 500 page book? By the time I read the first 50 words of the 1000 word article, I have already gained the "news benefit" and without anyone paying for the work done. Obviously there is more to the story, but readers still have benefit from the 5% plus the aggregate site benefits, all without paying the person who actually did the work. So, it is not like "Hey, news site X is carrying this neat story! Go read it!" because the aggregation site is obviously providing more than just a headline. With the snippit the site is giving you the *intended* benefit (news) and gaining a commercial benefit themselves. AP gets nothing for their work.
Then you have the issue of sites providing links to people who have simply copied the article without paying for it. I personally think it is unethical to have a commercial benefit from that link without paying for the material. People visit the aggregation sites because they are aggregation sites. They then collect advertising income. It is even more unethical to gain commericial benefit and then hide behind the statement "I didn't provide material illegally, I just pointed you to it."
The biggest problem I see is the freetards who do not want to pay for other people's work and are the first ones to complain when someone doesn't pay them. These are usually the same group who say you *must* follow the GPL (or whatever license) but do not have to listen to others about how to treat the other person's work. (that is, they can distribute music or articles all they want) It's hypocritical to put it mildly.
I personally support the right of the record companies to prosecute people who share music to the general public, although I do not support the tactics of the RIAA. It is not your place to say the record companies are making "too much". They made an investment in a band, have to cover the advertisement and distribution costs and run the risk of the album being a flop. Is it wrong for them to make money? If you think so, then simply stop buying CDs and DVDs, and stop going to movies. If enough people did that then maybe the record companies would get the message. However, by putting music or news articles online without paying for that right, you are stealing or at least you are aiding the theft. If you download it, you *are* stealing. Period. You have no absolute right to that music. (In Germany, there is no problem with making a copy for your sister or neighbor. However, making it publicly available is illegal.)
I run an informational website for *free*. I have Google ads to help cover my costs. Is it really fair or ethical to block the ads? Although you are not paying for anything, you are actively denying me a little big to help cover my costs. Is that ethically or morally correct? Certain features are only available if you register (for *free*). Is it fair or ethical for people to publicly provide a username and password to access these features "anonymously" so you do not have to register yourself? (this *has* happened) This is worse in my mind than stealing movies or music, as you would have access to the features and information for free if you were simply willing to following my rules for *free*.
It seems like too many people believe that as long are you are not personally effected, then you should not have to pay for other people's work. I would be curious to know how many people reading this think it is OK to provide others with a username and password to access my site (thus violating my terms of use), but it would *not* be OK for me to violate the terms of the GPL. How many think it is OK to violate the terms on a CD or DVD but it is not OK to violate the terms of the GPL?
BTW, I actually make financial contributions to three different open source projects. (one of which is included as a standard part of KDE)