Thursday, August 06, 2009

Would you pay for online news?


News today that Rupert Murdoch is going to start charging for his online newspapers such as The Times, The Sun & the Wall Street Journal.

He's potty. He should ignore his middle aged management consultants and poll some youngsters.

I can see people paying for specialist news on a restricted market. In the UK the online service provided by the Estates Gazette group is first class and value for money.

However, I can't see people paying online for general news, celebrity gossip or even page 3 girls as it's all so freely available.

The newspaper industry is in serious decline but this isn't the answer Rupert. My father actually worked with Murdoch in Fleet Street for 10 years or so in the 1970's but I'm afraid those times (like the old printing presses) are long gone.

If he really wants to turn around the £2bn annual loss then he really needs to hand the reins of News Corporation to some youngsters who can marry new media with the bottom line.

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