Rupert Murdoch is correct to begin the process of charging for news content.
There are some business models that are proven to work, online:
- micro-payments in games
- brands paying for engagement and not clicks
- in-video advertising
- subscription services
There is no workable business model for newspaper content online, aside from specialist content.
What does that mean? It means that talented individuals working in news-gathering and reporting are becoming fewer, and that is bad for our democracy. We need those voices on the frontline, and yet foreign correspondents are diminishing, experts in fields like environmental journalism are leaving the industry and moving into academia.
Can they move into the online journalism? No, because there are barely any well-paid journalism roles, online. The minority of winners are self-publishers. Making a personal destination site for news, alongside major players like the BBC is remarkable, not commonplace.
So we’re in a weird in-between phase, where publishers have to be brave enough to try new business models.
Some things can be made cheaper or even free, by emerging technology. And hurrah for that. But this expectation that everything can be free, is wrong. Good for Rupert Murdoch for beginning the difficult task of finding out how we can make journalism work, online. Its taken the newspaper industry too long to make a bold move, but I welcome it.
