Internet Challenges Rupert Murdoch and the Newspaper Industry
It’s no secret that growing popularity of the internet has had a direct impact on the circulation of newspapers in the 
past 10 years. Sitting down with a cup of coffee with the morning newspaper is gradually being replaced by a cup of Starbucks and a smart phone. According to the Business Insider 105 newspapers have closed as of July 4th and 23 of the 25 top newspapers have shown circulation decreases of 7-20%. It is apparent that the viewing of online content and the effectiveness of internet advertisements has taken it’s toll on what used to be the primary news delivery medium for so many readers worldwide.
On Aug 6th, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch announced that he would begin charging for online news content by 2010.
“Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting,”
Murdoch already charges for online content on the Wall Street Journal’s website. Now the 79 year old chairman wants to charge for all News Corp’s properties. According to Time Magazine, Murdoch does not even have a cell phone and requires assistance when accessing the internet. That being said, his judgment in the matter may be too biased. As it stands now, the majority of readers polled said they would not pay for the content.
Personally, I have never owned a newspaper subscription. My daily does of news always comes from websites, RSS feeds and of course, Twitter. I do however, rely on news websites for valuable blogging topics. So what does this mean? If the newspaper industry goes kerplunk, will it affect the amount of content published by blog owners? Will publicists rely more on Mashable and similar blogs for press releases?
It will be an interesting development for sure.
