Rupert Murdoch’s Internet answer: More pay walls
News Corp. accelerates its withdrawal from the free Net. Can the mighty mogul reverse the online tide?
Topics: Rupert Murdoch, How the World Works, Media Criticism, Bolivia, Politics News
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2009 file photo, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, USA, Rupert Murdoch speaks during a media conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, told a shareholder meeting last month. "It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues." (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, file)(Credit: AP)As legend has it, King Canute’s real goal, when he famously ordered the tide to halt, was to demonstrate to his subjects how powerless even the mighty were before God. Rupert Murdoch, however, appears determined to do Canute one better: As far as he is concerned, the tide will stop.
Numerous media outlets are reporting that as of June, News Corp. will start charging for online access to the Times and Sunday Times of London. Not too surprising — Murdoch’s been talking for months about his plans to charge for content at all his newpaper properties, and plenty of other news organizations have plans to wall themselves off as well. But a tweet from Glyn Moody alerts us to a news item reporting that Murdoch is also pulling his U.K. titles out of the Nexis half of the Lexis/Nexis news aggregation database. As Moody describes it, “Rupert invents Black Hole Net publishing: nothing ever comes out.”
The new move could be motivated by the fact that Lexis/Nexis is a fee-based subscription service that competes with Factiva, a Dow Jones database of news and financial information that Murdoch purchased along with the Wall Street Journal in 2007. But taken along with the decision to cut his U.K. newspapers off from the Internet, the principle at work seems clear: Retreat!
Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21. More Andrew Leonard.
More Related Stories
-
Is the Environmental Defense Fund ruining environmentalism?
-
Top 5 investigative videos of the week: "Winning" Afghanistan
-
Jester clowns Westboro Baptist Church
-
GOP: Party of crybabies
-
Developers evict historic women's shelter to build luxury hotel
-
Guantánamo prisoner on hunger strike cries for help on Twitter
-
3 possible solutions to international tax avoidance
-
“I just want the U.S. to send my father home”
-
Army weapons engineer tied to white nationalist organizations
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
David Vitter's hypocritical, punitive, horrible new amendment
-
Louie Gohmert: Women should be forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term
-
Could hackers destroy the U.S. power grid?
-
Democrats may be even worse than Republicans at regulating Wall Street
-
Eric Holder versus journalism
-
A progressive defense of drones
-
There's no substitute for government disaster relief
-
Holder signed off on search warrant for reporter
-
Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
-
Mike Judge: "Bowling for Columbine" made me pro-gun
-
Closing Gitmo is not enough
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
Most Read
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
-
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
GOP: Party of crybabies
-
Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
27 points28 points29 points | 2 comments
10 points11 points12 points | comment
Kerry Makes First Trip To Sub-Saharan Africa
Paul Announces Big 2016 News
Contentious Haley Pick Slams 'Desperate' Dems
West Shoots Down 'Doubt' About Reemergence
150 After Battle, Drummer To Recreate Reunion March
-
No Evidence FBI Is Targeting Chechen Separatists In Boston Bombing Case, Advocates Say - Welcome Back Weiner Puns
-
Bill De Blasio Won't Be Distracted By Anthony Weiner -
State Roadblocks Could Complicate Marriage Momentum - Obama Calls On Naval Academy Graduates To Help Put An End To Sexual Assault In The Military
Comments
41 Comments