http://www.techcentral.co.za/has-rupert-murdoch-lost-the-plot/11473/ South African technology, telecoms, IT, new media news Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:40:45 +0200 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://www.techcentral.co.za/has-rupert-murdoch-lost-the-plot/11473/comment-page-1/#comment-1574 Sibonelo Radebe Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:15:04 +0000 http://www.techcentral.co.za/?p=11473#comment-1574 The search for a model that will support journalism as we know it on the web will come down to one simple principle, value proposition. Newspaper editors and executives have been spoilt by an oligolistic market which allowed them to rake in big pay checks with little regard to value. As we speak newsroom resources across the country and offcourse globally are being depleted under the guise of adjusting to harsh economic conditions. A closer look will show that the quality of news is suffering. While I understand that the prevailing economic conditions call for efficiency but one cannot speak of efficeincy when product quality is being compromised. The internet is opening up the news market which should improve competitiveness and ensure that custormers/advertisers get value for their money. I have no doubt that an open market will reward value added journalism on the web. Those who were hoping for a free ride by replicating poor print practices on the web will be disappointed. On Murdoch,my take is that he has freedom to pursuing a pay for access model. Let the market sort him out. The search for a model that will support journalism as we know it on the web will come down to one simple principle, value proposition. Newspaper editors and executives have been spoilt by an oligolistic market which allowed them to rake in big pay checks with little regard to value. As we speak newsroom resources across the country and offcourse globally are being depleted under the guise of adjusting to harsh economic conditions. A closer look will show that the quality of news is suffering. While I understand that the prevailing economic conditions call for efficiency but one cannot speak of efficeincy when product quality is being compromised. The internet is opening up the news market which should improve competitiveness and ensure that custormers/advertisers get value for their money. I have no doubt that an open market will reward value added journalism on the web. Those who were hoping for a free ride by replicating poor print practices on the web will be disappointed. On Murdoch,my take is that he has freedom to pursuing a pay for access model. Let the market sort him out.

]]> http://www.techcentral.co.za/has-rupert-murdoch-lost-the-plot/11473/comment-page-1/#comment-1526 nevo Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:41:54 +0000 http://www.techcentral.co.za/?p=11473#comment-1526 Murdoch knows that cover price has only been around 20% of revenue and probably will not make a significant difference. online newspapers seem to garner 10x their readership online than they do in print (partly because its free, partly because its easier). The payment for search rights and search exclusivity is a very interesting angle, as it changes a number of dynamics in the online advertising space which are working against publishers, primarily Cost Per Click - which is the revenue model employed by google. By charging for search rights large publishers can really reduce the power of the search platforms (impacting their margin and reducing the effectiveness of the search results) and increase the value of the actual article. then again, Murdoch could just be going crazy :) Murdoch knows that cover price has only been around 20% of revenue and probably will not make a significant difference. online newspapers seem to garner 10x their readership online than they do in print (partly because its free, partly because its easier). The payment for search rights and search exclusivity is a very interesting angle, as it changes a number of dynamics in the online advertising space which are working against publishers, primarily Cost Per Click – which is the revenue model employed by google. By charging for search rights large publishers can really reduce the power of the search platforms (impacting their margin and reducing the effectiveness of the search results) and increase the value of the actual article. then again, Murdoch could just be going crazy

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