Murdoch: No more free news at News Corp. sites
Posted by Simon Day on August 6, 2009 at 11:39 AM
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has announced all the media conglomerate's news Web sites will begin charging for access to content by next summer, the Guardian reported Thursday.
"Quality journalism is not cheap," Murdoch said, according to the Guardian. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news Web sites."
"Quality journalism is not cheap," Murdoch said, according to the Guardian. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news Web sites."
Murdoch's announcement follows news of News Corp.'s second quarter net loss of US$203 million.
However, PC World expressed skepticism that such a move to charging for online content could carry such a significant financial burden and doubted whether Murdoch could convince readers to pay for his content when similar products are so prevalently available for free.
The PC World article also pointed out that the inevitable reduction in traffic could impact the company's advertising revenue.
Murdoch, however, has said he believes the model will succeed, and will be a leader in the switch to paid content online. "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other media," he said, according to the Guardian
However, PC World expressed skepticism that such a move to charging for online content could carry such a significant financial burden and doubted whether Murdoch could convince readers to pay for his content when similar products are so prevalently available for free.
The PC World article also pointed out that the inevitable reduction in traffic could impact the company's advertising revenue.
Murdoch, however, has said he believes the model will succeed, and will be a leader in the switch to paid content online. "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other media," he said, according to the Guardian
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