No Surf for You
By Johnny Roosh
Robert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp might be losing it.
Chairman Rupert Murdoch said Wednesday that the company intends to charge for all of its news Web sites. “Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting,” Murdoch said.
First off, it’s a long time since I’ve heard anyone say “quality” and “journalism” in the same sentence with a straight face. Second, News Corp doesn’t “give” anything away. Murdoch has built an empire by attracting viewers to content tailored for a target demo, and selling their attention to advertisers.
It’s a decades-old formula premised on the fact that you can’t possibly charge viewers, readers or surfers enough to pay for the content and make a profit.
Unless Murdoch is able to effect some sort of collusion among media conglomerates to form a near monopoly, I don’t see how he can decommoditize news content.
Then again, News Corp owns half the media industry on their own:
All the “Fox” Channels including Fox Sports, FX, Fox Business Network, Fox Movie Channel, Fox News Channel, Fox College Sports, etc.
Print Media and Publishing including The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal, Barons, The Sun, Dow Jones, and Harper Collins.
Entertainment and Web properties including American Idol, AskMen, hulu.com, MySpace, Rotten Tomatoes and 20th Century Fox.
Still, each property has a direct and equally viable competitor.
Assuming each News Corp property carries News Corp news content (with some exceptions, for example the movie studios), charging for the content will put each at a disadvantage as most consumers of news content don’t care so much about the quality and/or have long since discounted the media as a source of truth or truly useful information.
Case in point: ever noticed traffic and weather reports are never accurate or useful?
People won’t pay for what is essentially a diversion from the rigors of daily life. Shaving in silence is out of fashion. People read the news on their Blackberry because they can. Quantity of information trumps quality.
If News Corp starts charging a fee, clients will find what they need elsewhere. That cat’s been out of the bag a long time.
What say you?
August 5th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Since when did Rupert start receiving advice from talk radio consultants? Because this is as moronic as “conservative talk radio is dying”. The only people who will pay for online news content are people in the news and news dissemination industries. The only group of people who will pay for FOXNews.com is conservative talk radio and big name bloggers. (“big name” meaning those who have enough of a following that maybe they get a few bucks per month from ads *points @ SitD*, not FJBill)
August 6th, 2009 at 2:38 am
I think Murdoch & the other media magnates will have to develop a news-gathering system that can be sustained on a four-cents-per-ad-click model.
Welcome to the blue collar world, CSJ graduates!
August 6th, 2009 at 7:47 am
JRoosh: “Quantity of information trumps quality.”
SitD’s motto.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I checked ‘I find everything I need at Shot in the Dark”. There wasn’t an option for either Fox News and Rush Limbaugh; or Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report.
Thank goodness Scribd.com is still free….
August 6th, 2009 at 8:58 am
“Quantity of snark trumps quality.”
Clownie’s motto.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Saw and interview a while back with Mr. Murdock his idea at the time was the few cents per article read. He wanted to make it a universal proposal. Basically you have a news charge account, each article read is a penny or two no matter which source you read including his competitors.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:43 am
dave_h, that plan sounds a bit like the prisoner dilemma. The first media company to drop the fee will attract more eyeballs & ad money.
If it works, this ‘universal proposal’ will be indistinguishable from price fixing.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I pay for Rush Limbaugh 24/7, mainly for podcasts but also premium web site and Limbaugh Letter. I’m happy to do so even though I could record it for free because it saves me time and it’s foolproof. I never miss a show. It’s about $70 a year.
It isn’t just about content (“quality”), it’s also convenience.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:48 am
True enough, R-Five. Staying stupid and angry doesn’t come cheap.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
angryclown said:
“Staying stupid and angry doesn’t come cheap.”
The voice of experience?