Rupert Murdoch has suggested he could take all News Corp content off Google in a move to encourage users to pay (see his home fixture on Sky News below... still on YouTube, for now).
The impact would likely be a massive slump in traffic to his online properties from the millions of web users who find news and content via search terms and key words, rather than mastheads. And many other publishers consider Google a major ally rather than enemy for just that reason. But Murdoch is clearly more confident of charging for quality than monetising quantity - the typical online publishing model.
Newspaper content
The more pertinent question then may be what exclusive content Murdoch imagines his newspapers produce, above and beyond the output of other publishers, that users would pay for. Can Murdoch make this work, post a comment below and let us know.
If paying for news works - and it's a big if - it would hopefully improve the standard of journalism in general: news would be more differentiated and only good writers would survive (those who realise that their content needs to address the interest of their readership rather than just appeal to the sound of their own voice)
Posted by: Gonzo | Nov 09, 2009 at 14:19
Cut your nose off to spite your face comes to mind.
Advertising revenue is News Corps biggest revenue stream by reducing access to your Sites will reduce revenues.
Signed Carl Barron Chairman of agpcuk
Posted by: Carl Barron | Nov 09, 2009 at 16:14