Microsoft-Murdoch deal in the worksMicrosoft is in negotiations with News Corp to pay the media empire to pull all its news content from Google, insiders tell the Financial Times.
Paid news content
The Times reveals its paywall plans
As News Corp sites prepare to erect paywalls around their content, the editor of the UK’s Times has finally revealed some bricks-and-mortar information about what it will be doing and when.
Why Murdoch won’t ditch Google
Rupert Murdoch’s threat to pull all News Corp sites from Google’s search index may not be as dire for the mastheads as many are predicting — but chances are he won’t follow through on it anyway: he’ll just erect even higher paywalls.
How Murdoch can really hurt Google
Rupert Murdoch’s recent rejection of Google may be less about news content and more about the search engine wars, suggests Michael Arrington: by de-indexing from Google, other search engines could pay him for the rights to index News Corp content.
Why Murdoch may be more right than wrong about Google
mUmBRELLA’s Tim Burrowes asks if Rupert Murdoch has a point in thumbing his nose at Google and locking News Ltd’s content behind a paywall — maybe Google traffic isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Rupert Murdoch: the internet does not exist
As of a year ago, Rupert Murdoch had never even used Google — so maybe he doesn’t realise that by cutting News Corp off from it, the organisation will cease to exist, writes Michael Wolff.
Dear Rupert, this is how the internet works. Google it.
Rupert Murdoch may be rich, clever and influential, but his plan to remove News Corp content from Google’s index is just daft. If he wants us to read his stories, let alone pay for them, we have to be able to find them first.
Fairfax to rule out locking up news websites?
Listen out for the sound of the Murdoch minions reacting to the cold water Fairfax Media CEO Brian McCarthy has just poured on the idea of paid content news websites at the Fairfax AGM this morning.
Murdoch gives Google the finger
Rupert Murdoch says he’s going to remove News Corp media sites — like The Australian and the WSJ — from Google search results once the company’s big paywall goes up. Yeah, who needs new readers anyway?
Crikey costs trimmed, but not the attitude
The contributor budget has been cut here at Crikey, leading some to fear the publication will be run with a harder commercial edge following recent changes in ownership and management.
What if News Corp is the media’s last hope?
Playing “stacks on Rupert” for trying to make money from online content is the media’s latest favourite game. But at least he’s trying, says Neil Walker. Scary as it sounds, News Corp is possibly every other media companies’ best hope at survival.
iTunes for print? Selling the story instead of the magazine
Online aggregator Maggwire.com is planning “to do for magazines what iTunes did for music”, by selling “premium” magazine articles for a few bucks online. It may save the companies, but could it kill off the printed versions in the process?
Newsday columnist quits over paywall
Newsday columnist Saul Friedman has quit after the company erected a paywall on its website. In an open letter explaining the move, he says even he can’t access his own columns now.
Imagining life behind the pay-wall
The year is 2012 and the news is no longer free: Michael Wolff is in prison, Fox has renamed itself The Glenn Beck Channel, a NYT sub costs $7000-per-year, and a cultural divide has formed between the news-haves and news-have-nots…
UK’s Channel 4: File-sharing is here to stay. Embrace it.
Today’s “internet native” generation are never going to give up sharing and downloading things illegally over the internet, says an editor from the UK’s Channel 4. Attempting to lock up content will always fail: the future of the media is “spreadable and shareable”.
Would you pay Murdoch for articles like this…?
“Drunkest man ever tries to buy booze” is apparently what News Ltd’s Adelaide Now believes is news. Is this what Rupert Murdoch means when he talks about his engaging, original content? asks Ben Shepherd.
Mark Day: News does have content worth paying for — we just haven’t figured out what it is yet
Mark Dayleaps into the The Oz’s “Stacks-on ABC’s Mark Day” Day: Scott is wrong to dismiss paywalls on the grounds that much of News Corp’s content isn’t worth paying for: it is, and when Rupert works out what and why, he’ll let you know.
Your ABC and their News Limited: the media’s empire games
A speech last night by ABC chief Mark Scott was a pre-emptive strike in what will be the main media battle of the first quarter of this century — between paid content and public broadcasting.
Rupert the Sun King’s moral posture takes on a slouch
Over the weekend, Rupert Murdoch used some nasty language at the so-called World Media Summit in Beijing to slag off the likes of Google and Yahoo, describing them as content “kleptomaniacs” because they aggregate News Corporation’s content.
Greenslade: Murdoch has lost the plot
Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate hemorrhaged billions of dollars last year, and the media environment isn’t getting friendlier any time soon. So why is he gambling the entire empire on the hope that people will pay to read his websites? asks Roy Greenslade.
What news can you charge for online?
Now every media mogul and his dog wants to erect an online paywall, the time has come to figure out exactly what content readers will pay good money for. Former newspaper editor Alan Mutter has compiled a handy guide (and some hot graph pr0n).
Wolff: Murdoch declares war on the internet
Rupert Murdoch’s decision to paywall all of News Corp’s online content is a call to arms against the internet, says Michael Wolff. It’s a war he can’t win, but that doesn’t mean business blood won’t be shed.
Has Google flipped out?
Google has released a new content browser called Fast Flip that allows readers to “flip” through online news articles as they would a magazine — and they’re even going to share some of the revenue with the contents’ actual publishers. Genius or gimmick?
Pay websites: Beeb gives News the bird
The BBC has given a two-fingered salute to Rupert Murdoch and son James’ self-interested push to charge for internet news websites.
Only 51% of publishers think paywalls will work
US publishers are unconvinced that putting online content behind paywalls will work. Moreover, there’s little consensus on how to do it. In fact, according to the survey, 71% said their objective is “preserving print circulation.”
