SubscribeHissyFitWatch: Rupert Murdoch Declares War on Freeloading Internet Users & Google: Pay Us Or Go Away
News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch
The days of finding free access to News Corporation’s online content, from Fox News to the New York Post to Sky News are numbered, according to chairman Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch spent several minutes with Sky News Australia political editor David Speers lamenting the mistake News Corporation made in providing free access to its news stories and content websites, declaring the free ride is about to end with the near-universal introduction of “paywalls” requiring Internet users to open their wallets to read or watch their content.
Murdoch says he wouldn’t mind a substantial decline in web traffic from visitors who currently find his companies’ content through Google news and content searches, claiming advertisers don’t place much value on one-time visits. He prefers customers willing to pay.
Murdoch suggested most of News Corporation’s content will end up looking similar to today’s Wall Street Journal — a few sentences for free and then an invitation to subscribe to read more. Videos could cost more.
Murdoch accused Google and other indexing services of “stealing” content, and when asked if he would be willing to request that Google stop indexing his websites, Murdoch replied, “I think we will.”
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had fun with that answer last night, pondering how Murdoch will attract audiences to his content when the company refuses to allow search engines to index it.
[flv width=”536″ height=”316″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/MSNBC Rachel Maddow on Murdoch 11-09-09.flv[/flv]
Rachel Maddow comments on Rupert Murdoch’s apparent plan to ban indexing of his websites’ content by Google. (11/9/09 – 1 minute)
Sky News Australia was in no position to seriously object, as they are partly owned by News Corporation themselves, and Murdoch had little to fear from Speers’ gentle treatment of the media icon.
Among the company’s global media properties:
| Beliefnet |
| Channel V Philippines |
| Fox Business Network |
| Fox Kids Europe |
| Fox News Channel |
| Fox Sports Net |
| Fox Television Network |
| FX |
| My Network TV |
| MySpace |
| News Limited News |
| Phoenix InfoNews Channel |
| Phoenix Movies Channel |
| Speed Channel |
| STAR TV India |
| STAR TV Taiwan |
| STAR World |
| Times Higher Education Supplement Magazine |
| Times Literary Supplement Magazine |
| Times of London |
Local Media Properties
| Massachusetts: | New Bedford Standard-Times |
| New York: | Brooklyn Paper |
| New York Post | |
| Italy: | SKY |
| United Kingdom: | News of the World |
| Sun | |
| Sunday Times | |
| Times of London | |
| Australia: | Australian |
| Sydney Daily Telegraph | |
| Sydney Sunday Telegraph | |
| Northern Territory News | |
| Brisbane Courier-Mail | |
| Adelaide Advertiser | |
| Adelaide Sunday Mail | |
| Mercury | |
| Melbourne Herald Sun | |
| Sunday Herald Sun | |
| Perth Sunday Times | |
| China: | STAR TV Hong Kong |
| Georgia: | Imedi TV |
| Philippines: | Channel V Philippines |
| Thailand: | Star TV Thailand |
Other News Corporation Properties
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Studios
20th Century Fox Television
BSkyB
DIRECTV
Festival Mushroom Records
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Interactive Media
FOXTEL
HarperCollins Publishers
MySpace.com
National Rugby League
News Interactive
News Outdoor
Radio Veronica
ReganBooks
Sky Italia
Sky Radio Denmark
Sky Radio Germany
Sky Radio Netherlands
STAR
Zondervan
Murdoch also got time to plug his son’s pet political project — getting Great Britain to do away with the television license fee, which creates the necessary financial support to run and maintain the BBC. James Murdoch said such mandated government support stifled independent journalism.
“Most importantly, in this all-media marketplace, the expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision, which are so important for our democracy,” James Murdoch said.
Critics fired back that James’ statements were incredibly self-serving, considering the Murdoch family’s long history of “trash journalism” and agenda-based reporting in the British newspaper industry, and their business history has never shown a regard for preserving institutions of democracy, pointing out many Murdoch operations are politically positioned to the right of center and are not well known for airing every point of view.
Murdoch also directly competes with the BBC through its part ownership of a satellite television company. The BBC, as a public broadcaster, has a strict firewall prohibiting government interference in its content or newsgathering operations, a wall critics accuse News Corporation lacks.
Rupert went further in his Sky News Australia interview, claiming the BBC’s newsgathering operations were partly based on poaching content from his operations. The BBC is an undisputed world leader in independent global newsgathering, while News Corporation is not.
Murdoch also spent time in the interview defending America’s Fox News from accusations it is partisan, said President Barack Obama was performing his duties “badly,” and answered questions on Australian and American domestic political matters.
Sky News Australia’s full 37-minute interview with News Corporation’s chairman Rupert Murdoch (11/9/09)
I thought that this dinosaur is dead. … Well, it will be soon.
Haha! Wow, I think I might start watching Maddow after seeing that. I mean, seriously…when will these companies realize that the old way of charging for physical items is long past? There has to be a new way. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but telling the largest search engine in the world not to index any of your sites will effectively stop anyone from going to your site. In addition, I think that charging for the site isn’t going to work either. I’m not one who assumes I should get everything for free, but there are so many… Read more »
If he wants his readers to go away, I would be happy to oblige if he’d make all his holdings patently obvious. Not only will I go away from his internet holdings, I’ll gladly skip his TV holdings. I already don’t buy his newspapers, so I’ll be sure to continue that.
If Rupert Murdoch wants to stay firmly entrenched in outmoded business models then I suggest to him to take his papers and media off-line back to newspapers, magazines and books where the old model fits best.
I wonder what Murdoch will do about his OWN companies’ “poaching”. Techdirt has a great article exposing some of the same behavior by Murdoch that he’s accusing others of. Pot….meet kettle.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091111/0049546883.shtml