7th
Free News?
Rupert Murdoch has announced the end of free news on the internet from his company, NewsCorp. In the UK he owns The Sun and The Times and of course, their websites (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8186701.stm). Now, I don’t personally use either of these websites. I use, almost exclusively, the BBC website for my news, sport and weather. However, had I been an avid user of these sites, following this news I would probably jump ship and move to a news source that provided the same information for free but that’s just me.
But Rupert Murdoch raises a good point when he says ‘quality journalism is not cheap…’, and it is obvious that this is true. Great journalists will not start to work for free just because of the internet, they still have bills, expenses and families. But then with the advent of the internet we have all, especially my generation, become more and more used to gaining things for free - news, music, films, communication - you name it. Why pay 37p for a stamp when an email is free and instant? Why pay £9.99 for a CD when you can listen on spotify for free? Why pay for The Times Online for your news when the BBC is free?
The BBC has a great advantage over other media outlets as it is publicly funded. This means that whatever the economy is like, there will be money to support it, and it will never require a subscription fee for it. Rupert Murdoch predicts other news corporations will soon follow his lead and start asking for subscription fees for their news. Does this mean the end of independent news? Will everyone just seek out the free BBC news website instead?
I am inclined to compare the situation to television, where the BBC is free and then you can additionally pay for SKY or Virgin, etc, if you choose. These companies make large profits and still have a large share of the market. However, there is a major difference between the two, as television channels have significantly different content, whereas the news for one day is the same for all news outlets.
There is also another debate surrounding the BBC website at the moment, of how much of the license fee should go to funding BBC online. Is it fair that I pay the same as my grandparents for watching TV, using the BBC news website, downloading programs off iPlayer and having Radio1 on in my car as opposed to them only sitting and listening to the radio a few hours a day?
It is interesting how things will change and how we all adapt. If the subscription fee does come in for The Times and The Sun then some will pay, others will change to free news outlets. I’m sure that The Times and The Sun will get some subscribers, which will increase their income from nothing to something, surely a good move, even if it means less viewers.
In changing times some companies will come up with new strategies to make revenue, others will rest on their laurels. Some will succeed and survive, others will fail. It really is survival of the fittest on a scale Darwin could never imagine.
Or maybe in today’s corporate world it’s survival of the greediest.
