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Rupert Murdoch Plans a Digital Newspaper For the US

Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that Rupert Murdoch plans to launch a digital newspaper in the US geared specifically to younger readers and to digital outlets such as the iPad and mobile phones. The paper, as yet unnamed, will pool the huge editorial muscle of Murdoch's combined holdings within News Corporation, which include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the financial wire service Dow Jones, as well as his newspapers in the UK and Australia. Earlier this month, Murdoch said of the iPad: 'It's a real game-changer in the presentation of news,' adding 'We'll have young people reading newspapers.'"

27 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Game changer by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rupert Murdoch: Dragging us into the 20th century.

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    1. Re:Game changer by FriendlyLurker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obviously his company & friends are getting worried that their grip is failing to bend the hearts and minds of American young'uns to their liking, at least like it used to (PDF).

    2. Re:Game changer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it that you assume only FOX News spews propaganda?

      I didn't see that anywhere in his message. Why do you assume that he assumes that only FOX News spews propaganda? Or do you think that as long as other people do it too, it doesn't matter (how old are you)? Or do you feel every post about Fox (or Google, Microsoft, Apple, BP, whoever) should end with a line saying "The following other companies, governments or organisations also do bad things..." with a long list?

    3. Re:Game changer by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Hi, I'm Wally, the Murdoch Digital News Pay-wall Wallaby. According to other news sources - ones that you shouldn't waste your time reading - I'm an endangered species. So please give Master Rupert some of your money because I don't want to be Wally the extinct wallaby."

    4. Re:Game changer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look closer at the links he provided us with:

      - A google search he did for "Murdoch's Propaganda Machine")
      - An anti-FOX News site called outfoxed

      They're links relevant to Murdoch, yes. In comments on an article relevant to Murdoch. Funny how that works. So do you feel he shouldn't comment on any perceived shortcomings of Murdoch? I haven't looked yet but do you feel that your own comments give equal coverage to every other person when commenting on any one person/company/etc? It doesn't seem too likely.

    5. Re:Game changer by zblack_eagle · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's kind of funny how "Conservatives" like to preach that "Liberals" don't understand Economics 101, yet in their supposed worship of the (theoretical) free market they're quite happy to ignore instances of market failure, such as natural monopolies, externalities and the like.

    6. Re:Game changer by cgenman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Does anyone else do it to the same degree as FOX news? Has another TV channel cut around a speech to make a conservative look like they're saying something that was the exact opposite of the point of the speech? Does Martin Bashir cut off the mic his guests if they say things he doesn't like? Does MSNBC give its reporters an explicit ultimatum to promote a particular point of view or risk your job?

    7. Re:Game changer by Alien+Being · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And does any other individual have the ability to spread his lies to 1/3 of the worldwide population? Rupert Murdoch is a fucking menace.

    8. Re:Game changer by fwarren · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I doubt they are "factualy accurate". I have been close to three or four news stories in my life. So far I have never seen the news get any of the details right. If I had to make a judgement, I would say they got about 20% of the details right. They report on things they don't know. They don't check up on the facts.

      Example I work for a compnay where a bank we had some loans with accused us of over-infating the value of the company to get a larger loan. Well, beause as some time we talked to the bank on the phone, they went to a Federal Judge and got a warrant for Wire Fraud.

      So the FBI storms the building, I help their crew pull all the data they need from our computer systems. 80 computers, and they only one they take was a computer in a meeting room which had a hard drive go out on it the day before. Since it was the one computer I would not allow them to pull data off of (duh, it had a broken hard drive) they siezed it. News that night runs a story that over 100 computers were siezed.

      2 weeks later the news covred a story where they said that the FBI had analyzed our financials and found such and such out. Two days later I got a call from the Lab at the FBI asking which version of the accouting software we used that we were running and what were the passwords.

      If that is the general quality of reporting and getting the facts right. I am afraid that every time I turn on the TV and watch the news, or read a newspaper I actually get dummer.

      --
      vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
    9. Re:Game changer by Stevecrox · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm finding the Guardians website is pretty good for UK news, they actually seem interested in doing investigative journalism. More than a few times the seem to have covered things the BBC and other newspapers won't touch.

      You will never find a news organisation which isn't biased. I'd suggest using multiple sources with biases you can determine. I used to use the Guardian, BBC and The Times. The Guardian because its left wing, BBC because their biases are insanely obvious and the Times because it's right wing.

      Most people don't perceive a bias if it matches their own. It's why Fox News can exist in the first place.

  2. "We'll have young people reading newspapers." by DWMorse · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We'll have young people reading newspapers."

    Not till you tear down that Pay wall, Mr. Murdoch.

    --
    There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
    1. Re:"We'll have young people reading newspapers." by LambdaWolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My thoughts exactly. Murdoch seems to be hell-bent on capturing some revenue per reader on a subscription model, regardless of how poorly this is doomed to work on the Internet. No matter how good the content is or even how low the price is, no paywall-based news site will be more attractive than the convenient "point browser at URL, get page" model of Murdoch's many competitors.

      Really, it's the same mindset as the RIAA/MPAA companies who are ignominiously featured on Slashdot so often. They have a pre-Internet business model that allows them to get paid per copy of their product, and rather than accept that it won't survive a new technological environment where anything can be copied and transmitted around the world for free, they keep trying to hammer their outdated but profitable square peg into its new round hole with awkward technical and legislative "solutions." The good news about Murdoch's new project is that, unlike DRM and the DMCA, paywalled newspapers are easy to just ignore.

      --
      "This algorithm runs in constant time. Come on, 2,147,483,648 is a constant..."
  3. If there's one thing Murdoch knows, it's kids. by Spazntwich · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Check out the youthful demographics Fox News attracts...

    And he's sure to only increase the popularity of his empire with our generation as he attempts to sue Skype for having the same three letters in it as his other news organization that nobody under 25 has heard of.

    1. Re:If there's one thing Murdoch knows, it's kids. by DrScotsman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And he's sure to only increase the popularity of his empire with our generation as he attempts to sue Skype for having the same three letters in it as his other news organization that nobody under 25 has heard of.

      Not that I don't think the lawsuit is stupid, but wow, what a pointless diss. Rupert Murdoch owns a company in the UK that some North Americans haven't heard of - so what? We've certainly all heard of it over here.

      By the way, BSkyB isn't a "news organization", although they do have a news channel or two.

  4. Everyone who thinks this will work... by mooingyak · · Score: 5, Funny

    raise your hand. What, no one can hear me? IF YOU THINK THIS WILL WORK, RAISE YOUR HAND! Is this thing on?

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    1. Re:Everyone who thinks this will work... by mysidia · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm raising my hand. Rupert Murdoch is a billionaire for a reason. He's right more often than he is wrong. And he has the resources to back this venture.

      No. He was right more often than he was wrong 20+ years ago at the time he made decisions that caused him to became a billionaire

      A lot can change in 20 years.

      The world we lived in underwent major changes when the internet and online news became popular.

      We are in a completely different world today, and Murdoch is very much living in the old world. So he may be right less often about things; doesn't mean Murdoch is dumb, it just means he has an incomplete/lacking understanding of all that has changed.

      Less complete understanding of the present makes it a bit harder to understand let-alone predict and be right about the future

      His thinking about iPad may be more hope than realistic expectation.

      It's true the iPad presents an opportunity for him to sell electronic digital content.

      But then again we have similar things available on computers and web sites..

      News Corp's best chance at selling any news subscriptions for the iPad will be if it becomes more convenient for people to buy/read his content than other free sources, which is doubtful to be true for long.

  5. Tiered content by hessian · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Good idea:

    For the people who can read newspapers, there's the full story loaded with factual detail.

    For the rest, there's a blog-style two-paragraph campy tongue-in-cheek story that's easy to read.

    He can charge money for the real content, then have his editorial staff of college hipsters convert it into a blog for $8/hour.

    Smart, this guy -- he's good at spotting markets and catering to them. I doubt he holds any of the opinions featured in his newspapers.

  6. Re:Geez... by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 3, Funny

    He actually bought the word "digital"! It seems you've used it without permission...lawyers with lasers on their heads are on their way, please do not resist.

    --
    "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
  7. the gamechanger by AffidavitDonda · · Score: 3, Funny

    Murdoch said of the iPad: 'It's a real game-changer in the presentation of news,'

    Hmm, sure, yes, the thing has something like a screen. Actually it is a screen. That would allow us to add those new thingies the PR guys talked about all the time. I think they call it "animations". And we could change those news during the day, not like this old printed stuff, with only one print a day. Sure, people would have to pay for it a little bit more, since they get more news. But those kids a surely used to pay for services they get from the internet...

  8. "paid-for" by Dracos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The paywall pretty much guarantees failure. Young people generally have a long list of things above "news" on which they choose to spend their small amount of disposable income. I applaud his astounding failure in advance.

  9. Re:Good luck... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can someone persuade Murdoch to buy FaceBook? I can't think of a better way of killing it...

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  10. Re:What's left unsaid by ScottForbes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Granted, professional journalism does cost money, but what does this have to do with Rupert Murdoch?

  11. Problem: young people don't read newspapers by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Young people don't read newspapers. Not in the way Murdoch's thinking, at least. They don't start on page 1 and read through to the end. And they don't compile a list of subjects and read consistently on those subjects for months at a time. They get a sudden interest in a particular subject, search for stories about that specific subject right now, skim them and maybe read a few of the most interesting ones, then go on to other things until another subject piques their interest. This is why Google's so popular: it makes it easy to do exactly that. If Murdoch doesn't accept that, he's simply going to be passed over yet again.

  12. Re:Great by haruchai · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think you're missing the point - that's exactly the kind of sensationalizing the far right has been so good at doing in recent years. Has everyone already forgotten the fuss about Obama's schooling in Indonesia?

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  13. Re:What's left unsaid by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    professional journalism, in the mainstream, died decades ago.

    what we now have is packaged spin, nothing more.

    THIS is why people go outside (of the mainstream) to fetch real news and viewpoints. we're pretty tired of the crap that passes for 'news' from the establishment, these days.

    indie is the only hope we have left; certainly NOT big-news machines!

    the smaller the site, the more likely it is that they're NOT on someone's payroll, spouting out their masters' views for a fee.

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  14. What's the point? by PPH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Murdoch's product is best suited for housebreaking puppies or wrapping fish. Neither of which work well with an iPad.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Haven't you noticed his travelling show? by dbIII · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's a brief rundown of what I think he's been trying to achieve with all the noise over the past three years. He's pushing hard to have government run media sites (eg. BBC) cut back (with some success) and pushing hard to have index sites like google tied up in court after weird new IP laws are drafted. That will leave nothing but blogs and his paywall sites. He can play this game since he doesn't really have anything to lose with his newspapers - they already bleed money.
    I suppose the business model is:
    talk to governments about IP laws and brang google as pirates, then take the money google would normally get.
    The Murdoch press and media already had a HUGE beatup over google collecting wifi information and had some success in changing public and government opinions about google. He's also been speaking everywhere he can get anyone to listen about how the net is a denizen of theives and we should all be restricted to paid content or jobs will be lost - or something along those lines, check your local Murdoch paper for details. He has more influence than anyone here would like, understands the net more than many here (he had an ISP in 1993 FFS and has always listened to experts) but doesn't care if he breaks it so long as he can get money from the pieces.