Survey on paid content linked to News Corp.?

Posted by Lisette García on November 17, 2009 at 10:52 AM

A study released Monday by a business strategy firm shows that less than half of Americans would be willing to pay for news online, Nasdaq reported today. Meanwhile, as many as 66 percent of Finns, 63 percent of Germans and 62 percent of Italians on average would pay between US$5 and $7 monthly for Internet-based journalism, The Guardian today reported.

The Boston Consulting Group's findings were extrapolated from a survey of 5,000 respondents, according to Sunday's New York Times.

However, the group that produced the report has ties with Rupert Murdoch, controlling stakeholder and CEO of News Corp., who has announced the media conglomerate will soon begin charging for online content. These ties may prove to undermine the impartiality of the study:

Namely, Jan Koeppen joined News Corp. in March as Chief Operating Officer for Europe & Asia, as The Guardian then reported. Until that time, Marketing Magazine in March said, Koeppen was a partner, managing director, and world co-lead of the media group for the Boston Consulting Group, a business strategy organisation.

Notably, though no news report contemporaneous with Koeppen's move to News Corp. indicates any animosity between Koeppen and the Boston Consulting Group, files containing his name appear to have been scrubbed from the firm's Web site, as a search today of the name Koeppen turns up no results. The Boston Consulting Group ordinarily boasts strong continuing ties with its former employees, maintaining an alumni network as well as advertising on its Web site touting the continuing successes of alumni.

Reports immediately available did not make clear in what format the survey was conducted (i.e. by phone, in writing, online), nor who commissioned the study.