Posts Tagged ‘Murdoch’

Andy Coulson payments broke Commons pass rules: What did News International get?

August 25th, 2011 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Politics

The Guardian is reporting on Andy Coulson’s payments from News International (NI) today.

Coulson received ongoing health insurance coverage, a company car, legal advice and severance payments from his old employer during his time as an advisor to David Cameron, according to the paper.

Coulson and The Conservative Party ‘categorically denied‘ any such payments when asked about them.  A parliamentary investigation will follow.

This saga leads to another question for me, which is to wonder what NI received in return for the continued support for its ex-employee, who now found himself at the heart of the British Government with unfettered access.

There must have been some justification for this considerable financial expense – what was it?

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Does Fox Media reflect a trend for traditional media in the future?

October 6th, 2010 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Media, Politics

Traditional media can respond to the changing media environment in a number of different ways, what’s crucial to them is the need to stay relevant and attract an audience.  There are probably many ways that traditional media can achieve these objectives.

One option is to move away from the convention of neutral news reporting and move into more opinionated territory.  This opinion could take many forms  but fundamentally newspapers either become more political or more activist.  I think a good example of the latter is The Guardian campaign in support of the International Year of Biodiversity.

On the political spectrum we have the politically aligned Fox News, which as Paul Krugman of Princeton University says in this article for the New York Times has ‘decided that it no longer needs to maintain even the pretense of being nonpartisan’.

“Nobody who was paying attention has ever doubted that Fox is, in reality, a part of the Republican political machine; but the network — with its Orwellian slogan, “fair and balanced” — has always denied the obvious. Officially, it still does. But by hiring those G.O.P. candidates, while at the same time making million-dollar contributions to the Republican Governors Association and the rabidly anti-Obama United States Chamber of Commerce, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns Fox, is signaling that it no longer feels the need to make any effort to keep up appearances.”

Of course, political alignment in the media is not a new thing but out and out political bias, control and affiliation is.  Perhaps its inevitable given the completely unfettered nature of the blogosphere but a potentially worrying trend nonetheless.

Will political opinion and vested interests characterise the future of media?  Do you think activism is a sustainable strategy for traditional media in print and online?

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Microsoft takes the bait, enters discussions with News Corp

November 23rd, 2009 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Media, Search

It was pretty obvious that Rupert Murdoch’s recent announcement that News Corp would prevent its content being indexed by Google was an appeal to other search engines to step up to the plate.  I have half expected other publishers to make their own ‘anti-Google indexing’ announcements but it seems that they are keeping quiet for the time being to see what eventuates.

The FT reported today that News Corp and Microsoft are in ‘discussions’.  Microsoft is determined or desperate to catch up with Google in search, the latter being streets ahead.  Microsoft has made it clear that it will invest heavily to achieve its goals. 

Could Microsoft turn the tide in search through exclusive partnerships with publishers? 

Update: Some interesting perspectives on today’s developments…  

Tom Foremski at SiliconValleyWatcher: Is Murdoch Setting Up a Bidding War for News Corp. Index?

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land: Why an Exclusive WSJ Deal Wouldn’t Help Bing

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Readers should fund online media and that includes journalism and blogs

October 23rd, 2009 by Daniel Young | 1 Comment | Filed in Media

The business model that underpins print media is under pressure as a result of the competition that is presented by free online media in the form of news sites and blogs. Publishers are grappling with a range of questions:

  • Will digital advertising revenue alone support quality journalism?
  • Will readers pay for quality content?
  • Will micro-payments scheme work on a pay as you go basis?
  • What will happen if I start charging for content but no-one else follows suit?
  • Can we maintain objectivity within an advertising-only funded revenue model?

The Internet has caused massive fragmentation of the media landscape, bloggers and news sites have sprung up that cater for the most niche of audience groups – this is a good thing. They attract large numbers of readers but few of them are profitable.

In the medium to long term I believe that the blogosphere will face its own challenges when it comes to funding and sustainability. The net result will be drastic consolidation of the blogosphere, which will have a knock on effect for the niche audiences many of which will lose their ‘media’.

There is a simple solution to all of this. Every publisher charges a fee.

Online publishers whether they be heritage media publishing houses that have made the transition to web, new media houses or independent bloggers should charge a micro-fee for their content on a pay per use basis.

Its a win win win situation.

  • Readers are served by quality mainstream media and coverage of niche interests.
  • Advertising revenue can be devoted to social networks, search, communities, forums, discussions groups and so on.
  • Journalists and bloggers get to maintain their objectivity as part of a sustainable and value industry.
  • Journalism is sustainable.
  • Government, institutions, business, interest groups are held to account by an objective and sustainable Media.
  • Consumers make informed evolved decisions based on influence and information, as opposed to mindless subliminal advertising.
  • Media becomes a true marketplace – quality shines.

I recognise that there are practical issues associated with this model but for me this is the true evolution of the Internet. A force that has democratised information and influence. Lets now apply a workable marketplace for the influence economy.

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Media Directions: Forces at play that will determine the future of media

October 19th, 2009 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Media

Media Directions

It’s the question on everyone’s lips: What will media look like in the future?

I was riding the 6:02 from North Sydney to Central station on the way home from work this evening. The girl sitting in front of me was reading two forms of media simultaneously.

In both hands she held The Metro newspaper, a free city newspaper here in Sydney and in her right hand she also held her mobile handset, which was clasped at eye level. She was switching between the two – old media and new.

It was a good metaphor for the forces at play in media. These well reported forces are transforming the media industry and giving media industry moguls like Rupert Murdoch major headaches. Every dogs gets its day, as they say.

I have been thinking about the forces at play on the media industry – it’s relevant to a project I am working on at the moment.

Media in the future won’t necessarily be re-shaped by one  extreme at the expense of another but I think its safe to say that the chips have to ultimately fall on one side or the other, in most if not all cases.

The sooner the better because media is important and sustainable and credible industries need certainty.

So here’s a black and white analysis of some of the forces influencing the future of media. There’s no thinking behind the black and white. The direction that media takes has fundamental implications for the marketing industry but also for our society, communities and families in the future.

It’s with great pleasure that I announce the launch of a new Just Another 24 Hours Series entitled Media Directions. This follows the short and sweet The Microhoo Application series.

The Media Directions series will tackle the forces outlined in this post one by one and seek to pick one winner over another (if possible). The series will capture the characteristics of future media . This analysis will be highly subjective with the occasional statistic and fact thrown in for good measure.

And if you have any suggestions about other forces impacting the media industry then please add them to comments and I will tackle these in due course.

The outcome for Media Directions will be a definitive mind map of the media industry of the future, which will act as a foundation planning and strategy tool.

Watch this space.

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Murdoch controlling what we read and think

February 1st, 2008 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Life, Politics, Social media

No! Not this Murdoch – you crazy fool!

The A-team’s Murdoch

This one:

Murdoch Media Baron

Apparently, GodsPlace, I mean MySpace, has deleted the Atheist and Agnostic group from its pages under pressure from religious intolerants. There is no allegation of a violation of terms. The group had 35,000 members, has won awards for not believing stuff and claims to be the largest collection of atheists in the world.

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