VoldeMurdoch
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 by alice
Looks like times of free news, free music and perhaps even free pornography are coming to an end. Rupert Murdoch, Australian global media magnate, wants to put a price on all News Corp’s websites, which includes mega popular sites such as The Australian, the New York Post, Vogue Australia (nooooo!), all Fox enterprises, and zillions of other things that you probably access on a daily basis.
Scary or necessary? As an 80’s kid brought up and accustomed with the technological facilities, and free virtual access to the world, I would hate to see it happening. Although, as a media student, I think it might be necessary for the future of the profession.
The other day I was listening to the BFM and there was an interview with an American media expert talking about the potential end of conventional journalism. Information can now be acquired so freely on the net, and because it is so accessible, everyone considers themselves journalists or at least writers. He also mentioned that some newspapers have had to shut their doors for lack of income. The problem therefore consists of free information online and paid hardcopy information. If a newspaper company has a free online service, why would you pay for a hardcopy?
Personally, I would love to be able to pay for a hardcopy myself, but being a cash strapped student I face the reality of acquiring my current event knowledge through a screen (free). But if Murdoch’s plan works out I’ll be screwed, and millions of other poor students will too.
His savage capitalist plan might not work though since according to the New Zealand Herald, which I accessed without having to pay a penny, people are not willing to pay for popular information like the Times and the Sun; rather they are more likely to pay for specialist business titles such as the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.
It will be interesting to see if Murdoch’s plans work or not.
Source: http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/liam-dann-business-editor/2009/8/8/future-web-free-stuff-air-after-murdochs-move/?c_id=1502542&ref=emailfriend
Scary or necessary? As an 80’s kid brought up and accustomed with the technological facilities, and free virtual access to the world, I would hate to see it happening. Although, as a media student, I think it might be necessary for the future of the profession.
The other day I was listening to the BFM and there was an interview with an American media expert talking about the potential end of conventional journalism. Information can now be acquired so freely on the net, and because it is so accessible, everyone considers themselves journalists or at least writers. He also mentioned that some newspapers have had to shut their doors for lack of income. The problem therefore consists of free information online and paid hardcopy information. If a newspaper company has a free online service, why would you pay for a hardcopy?
Personally, I would love to be able to pay for a hardcopy myself, but being a cash strapped student I face the reality of acquiring my current event knowledge through a screen (free). But if Murdoch’s plan works out I’ll be screwed, and millions of other poor students will too.
His savage capitalist plan might not work though since according to the New Zealand Herald, which I accessed without having to pay a penny, people are not willing to pay for popular information like the Times and the Sun; rather they are more likely to pay for specialist business titles such as the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.
It will be interesting to see if Murdoch’s plans work or not.
Source: http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/liam-dann-business-editor/2009/8/8/future-web-free-stuff-air-after-murdochs-move/?c_id=1502542&ref=emailfriend
Wouldn't it be nice to think that this is Murdoch signing his own death warrant (metaphorically, of course). The idea of people paying to read the Sun online seems very odd. (Though only a little odder, I guess, than people paying to read it in hard copy - if "read" is the right word).
hm scary thought indeed! like you, i can not afford to pay for a hard copy of the news paper despite that fact i would very much like to, so i get my daily shot of news via the herald website. Does this mean that will soon have to pay for watching the national news on tele? (and i dont mean on sky..again poor student!) HMPH! is all say to Murdoch and his plan