The title of that Stephen King novel ties in well here. The CEO of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, announced today that within the next year News Corp-owned newspaper websites, e.g., the Wall Street Journal's wsj.com, will begin charging for online content. As justification for making such a move, Murdoch stated that the current model of free content was malfunctioning, and that, "The current days of the Internet will soon be over."
At the the tender age of 17, I went to a student seminar in Washington, D.C., for a week. The seminar hosted a luncheon with all the familiar White House press corp reporters as guests, including those from big-name newspapers. Even then, 13 years ago, my sister's university's newspaper could be found online, so I would often read the articles she wrote for it on the Net.
So I got the courage to stand up during the Q&A session, gave the example of my sister's online newspaper, and asked our guests how the Internet's free content was going to affect their respective newspapers? The sole response: The Internet is a powerful thing. Next question.
I think people will move away from online newspapers such as those owned by News Corp, to other online news sources which offer free content. These pay-to-read services will eventually move back to free content. In the meantime, because there will be fewer ad spaces available on free content websites, these newspapers will be able to charge a higher premium to their advertisers. If these guys get really savvy, they will work out a mutually beneficial relationship with electronic devices such as the Kindle, and find a revenue stream there which works with their business model.
Hey, White House press corp, I tried to warn you.
No comments:
Post a Comment