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Murdoch Op-Ed: Oh, They'll Pay, Alright!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch seems to have decided to forsake the sound bites and investor conference snippets through which we have gotten his view on free content and the future of journalism. In a new op-ed piece for his own Wall Street Journal, the media mogul says that digital technology is not to blame for the plight of the media industry. “The future of journalism belongs to the bold, and the companies that prosper will be those that find new and better ways to meet the needs of their viewers, listeners, and readers,” he says. He argues that too many newspapers are producing award winning content only for themselves and not their readers.

Murdoch goes on to say that News Corp. is focusing heavily on mobile platforms and has been engaged in a two year project to reserve part of its TV spectrum to deliver video and newspaper content to these devices. The “next wave” of TV viewing will likely be mobile, he says.

As for free vs. fee-based media, Murdoch admits that “The old business model based mainly on advertising is dead.” Digital ads cannot support newspaper journalism. “This is not going to change, even in a boom,” he warns. Murdoch says that News Corp. will be charging for its content in the future. He accuses online news aggregators of outright “theft,” hiding behind “fair use” claims without contributing to the creation of the original content they copy and reconfigure.

News Corp. has been promising to tighten its subscription walls and start charging for some, if not all, of the content it now offers online for free. “The critics say people won't pay,” Murdoch contends. “I believe they will, but only if we give them something of good and useful value. Our customers are smart enough to know that you don't get something for nothing.”

Except Murdoch's editorial, which appears in the free area of WSJ.com

If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com


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COMMENTS
1.
çPaying for news is one thing. Paying for political commentary is another.
If the Wall Street Journal wants to continue to beat it's Conservative political drum it had better forget charging people for it.
I don't mind reading one sided opinions but I wouldn't pay for it. The blogs are full of free right wing bloggers who will let your read their posts for free.
So, If the WSJ wants to drop itself from Google search...go ahead, be my guest. There are so many other real news sources out there, That the journal's one sided Conservative views... won't be missed.
Posted by Norris Hall on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 @ 05:51 PM
2.
What is wrong with a conservative view point, most of the media/news produced on television is liberal to a capital L. Most news papers are liberal too. People who pay for content will pay for what they want and need.
Posted by Ed Hamlin on Thursday, December 10, 2009 @ 06:27 PM

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