The future of newspapers, as has been noted here almost weekly it seems, is very important to the nation. As a lover of newspapers, the latest trends and news about the industry, and the product that hits my front stoop every day makes me pay attention. Such as the latest from Rupert Murdoch, a man who is not on my list of the most respected. Be that as it may, I find his views about the business models of online newspapers troubling.
Granted an on-line news site needs to find a revenue source, but given how open and accessible the internet is I do not think requiring a fee to access a newspaper site will be successful. The issue, as I see it is not the fee itself, but the lack of original source material. The Wall Street Journal is one such source that often provides must-read type information, and so one can make an argument about the ability of this paper to set a fee. But most papers do not rise to that level of journalism or the ability to gather the volume of information that it does on a near daily basis. Other newspapers will never be able to charge for their output. With all due respect can you see yourself paying for the Madison Capital Times on-line? If Murdoch thinks that fees are the new business model for newspapers I want to chat with him in 5 years, and see how he thinks that is going for the industry as a whole.
Rupert Murdoch expects to start charging for access to News Corporation’s newspaper websites within a year as he strives to fix a ”malfunctioning” business model.
Encouraged by booming online subscription revenues at the Wall Street Journal, the billionaire media mogul last night said that papers were going through an “epochal” debate over whether to charge. “That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal’s experience,” he said.
Asked whether he envisaged fees at his British papers such as the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World, he replied: “We’re absolutely looking at that.” Taking questions on a conference call with reporters and analysts, he said that moves could begin “within the next 12 months‚” adding: “The current days of the internet will soon be over.”
Plunging earnings from newspapers led the way downwards as News Corporation’s quarterly operating profits slumped by 47% to $755m, although exceptional gains on sale of assets boosted bottom-line pretax profits to $1.7bn, in line with last year’s figure.
Dwindling advertising revenue across print and television divisions depressed the News Corp numbers despite box office receipts from Twentieth Century Fox movies such as Slumdog Millionaire and Marley and Me. But Murdoch said he believed signs of hope were appearing.
“I’m not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good,” he quipped. “But it is increasingly clear the worst is over.”
He continued: “There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier.”
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