Rupert Murdoch’s charging for news scheme.

I know that is off topic for this blog but it affects my blog and all who blog about news indirectly.

Rupert Murdoch has made it clear that his media empire is about to start charging people to read Internet news that would include Fox News as well as many others. He also expects other Internet news sites to follow suit. I do not know what world Rupert Murdoch is now living on he certainly is not living on Internet earth. Murdoch has been wrong about a lot of things lately and is losing a lot of money because of such irrational thinking.

Let me make something clear to Mr. Murdoch and those who think like him. Those of us who casually scan the news for information for our blogs are not going to sign up with news sites to pay for the news. Where would we get the money if even the big news sites cannot even make money with all the advertisements that they have on their huge news sites? I also do no not see the common casual Internet user paying for news services when all they have to do is turn on the radio or TV or get the news from someone that is not charging. That pretty much just leaves well known news commentators that have big budgets to sign up to get these news services. There are not enough of them to even start to pay the budget that is required by these news services.

The rest of us will find our news from commentary sites or alternative news media and the news sites that do not go along with Murdoch’s plan to start charging.  It only stands to reason that it would be smart for some news services not to charge because one thing is certain. The more news sites that start charging, the more visits the other news sites that do not charge will get. That will increase their advertising revenue. So this whole exercise of charging for news seems to be doomed to failure to me.

If Internet news sites cannot make a go of it by online advertisement I think they need to go broke and get off the Internet. There are obviously too many news sites on the Internet. There needs to be a shake out so those that remain can make money. If there is not enough advertising revenue to go around for all the news sites on the Internet it is only because there are far too many news sites. Charging is not going to solve that problem, Those that charge will start to lose their following while others that do not charge will become increasingly more popular. Therefore, all who wish to be popular news sites on the Internet will be forced to revert back to free news.

That is my prediction Mr. Murdoch. So bring your charging scheme on. I assure you that I will promptly remove Fox News as my home page and that I am not going to sign up with any other site that charges for news either. I also know that I will be in the vast majority. Does Murdoch really not know these things? Perhaps this announcement is really a long term scheme to cause that shakeout in Internet news sites so that Murdoch with his deep pockets can come back with a free service with then far less competitors surviving. Sly devil!

FT.com / Media – Murdoch vows to charge for all online content

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4 thoughts on “Rupert Murdoch’s charging for news scheme.

  1. It’s pretty clear where this whole thing is heading with our internet and news outlets. Eventually, all news will be “state run” and “state controlled” just as it always is in a socialist society. Eventually, the only news that will be available anywhere will have to be approved by the government. Anything else will be censored out. The New World Order is no longer a “conspiracy theory” as it has been so labelled for the last 30 years or so, and taking full control of all media is part of their master plan. I’m not just making this up. You can’t have world “order” in a socialist society if there are news sources that conflict with the “message” that our new world government wants us to hear. This is only the beginning, I’m afraid. We should all enjoy our freedoms on the internet while we still have them.

  2. I agree that the Internet will be censored by the state and/or by liberal fascist run ISP’s in the not too distant future. It is already happening in some nations. I might add that we are now only one Supreme court justice away from total left wing socialistic fascism.

  3. I agree guys. What is funny is listening to people say that talk like this is being “paranoid”. Lol. A blind man can see the reason for charging people for internet content.

    Don’t get me started on socialized health care. The gov’t couldn’t care less if the poor don’t have access to health care. It’s all about the control and power.

  4. This is definitely a big mistake! The first thing that came into my mind was, well I won’t be visiting Fox News anymore. I’m sure 99% will agree with that thought! Forget it Rupert; find some other way to generate revenue since this idea is a big bust.

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