Posted by Here is a very fascinating interview with Rupert Murdoch (News Corp. Chief Executive Officer).
This could well be one of the most interesting looks at what happens when a traditional media is in flux, uncertainty and will do (and say) whatever it can to figure out where the new business models are (and to protect what they have): YouTube – Sky News – Interview with Rupert Murdoch.
The real problem with News Corp. turning off Google (or the search engine pipes) is not about distributing their news to more and more people (and getting them to pay), it will be the loss in free branding, visibility and free advertising it gets from ranking so high to the top of search engines with the millions of searches done on those terms every day. I understand that Murdoch does not believe that any of these individual people would ever pay for content, but when a company does provide enough value and quality, I do believe people would be more than willing to pay for information that is consistently relevant to them.
Is Murdoch out of touch or does he truly understand that even though fewer people will pay for content, those that do pay will make them profitable?
Never another podcast episode or article 
Pretty fascinating, indeed. My instinct tells me that his model will not work. People who currently pay for their newspaper might be inclined to pay for their news, but the generation he must attract has never even considered
Pretty fascinating, indeed. My instinct tells me that his model will not work. People who currently pay for their newspaper might be inclined to pay for their news, but the generation he must attract has never even considered it.
It seems Mr. Murdoch is dealing with four fundamental delusions:
a) refusal to accept that technology has fundamentally changed the world of journalism and media
b) pride in his journalistic superiority and that news sourcing “average” stories from external agencies “degrades” his publications.
c) failure to differentiate the value between basic news, analysis & comment, and tailored premium content by “throwing the whole lot together”
d) belief that viewers “absolutely” understand the differentiation and separation of news programming from editorial programming on his Fox News network
Murdoch “loves contacting and communicating with people” Too bad that he is actually only interested in doing so when the other party is paying.
Murdoch is desperately trying to support a broadcast paradigm in a world that has evolved to embrace interactive conversation and free exchange of relevant information.
Throughout the course of the conversation, Mr. Murdoch failed to mention anything regarding innovation, new business models, or creative solutions to content creation or distribution. Those hold the solution to the challenges facing journalism and media businesses.
After watching the full video, my assessment? Mr. Murdoch’s perspectives on journalism and the media are Fairly Unbalanced.
I believe that Murdoch is a great leader that has led his company based on the past successes of print and other traditional media.
However, I also believe that he is greatly out of touch with the future of the web and the creation of amazing content that people would be willing to pay for. When he states that he would simply make one phone call to remove videos from YouTube, demonstrates the lack of understanding of how great content can become viral in a very positive way.
Other organizations that embrace new strategies to connect and have conversations with customers will win.