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Rupert Murdoch Hates Google, Loves the iPad
Hugh Pickens writes "The Register reports that News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, reiterated his disgust at how search engines handle news and called on old media to rethink how their stories are distributed on the web. 'It's produced a river of gold, but those words are being taken mostly from the newspapers,' said Rupert. 'I think they ought to stop it, that the newspapers ought to stand up and let them do their own reporting.' Murdoch added that the iPad was a 'wonderful tool' for listening to music, watching videos and reading newspapers. 'It may well be the saving of the newspaper industry,' by making it cheaper to distribute content to a broader audience, Murdoch said. 'I'm old, I like the tactile experience of the newspaper,' Murdoch said. '(But) if you have less newspapers and more of these, that's OK. It doesn't destroy the traditional newspaper, it just comes in a different form.'"
Don't worry, he's been busy running around the world yelling in the ear of any politician that will listen to try to create "bad new days". It's already resulted in the BBC drasticly cutting back it's online presence.
Don't think we can ignore him. He may be an old bastard but he's an old bastard with teeth dripping venom and many elected representatives owe him something.
I think you're spot-on. And so is Murdoch, kinda. At least the part about this being just a new medium in which to deliver his product. I think the way he would like to price it isn't viable in the long run but that's just me being cheap. I get free news from reputable newspapers for free in my mobile and on the papers' websites. I even get the actual dead-tree version for free with my groceries purchase so any subscription of more than a couple of dollars for something intangible and pretty much ephimeral by its very nautre won't appeal. I'm guessing a very large and increasing group of people will be on the same boat.
+Raider of the lost BBS
I was actually quite shocked when the Economist site went free. Beats me why - those were high-quality articles I was willing to pay for. As in, pay to access the site.
Huh? They still charge for complete access - they've had partial free access since I first got a print subscription however many years ago, similar to Consumer Report's site and the Wall Street Journal.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Any true geek should have watched enough MacGyver to know that Murdoc is the bad guy.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.