Murdoch: Online free content not a business model

Posted by Emily Dilling on April 3, 2009 at 9:32 AM

News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch told the cable industry Thursday that the proliferation of free online content will hinder the success of newspapers' online business models, Dow Jones reported.

Murdoch pointed out that "nobody is making money with free content on the Web except search" and expressed skepticism with regard to newspapers' use of companies like Google to aggregate their content without compensation.

"Should we be allowing Google to steal our copyrights?" asked Murdoch, and continued, "If you have a brand like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal you don't have to." News Corp. owns Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal.

Murdoch also speculated that newspapers would eventually have to charge for access to their online news. Murdoch said newspapers are "never going to make money on an advertising model to replace what they're losing," referring to an increasing catalogue of display advertising on the Internet, Dow Jones reported in an article posted by CNN.