Murdoch Seems Poised To Drop WSJ's Paywall As Well
from the better-for-long-term-business dept
With the New York Times finally realizing (two years too late) that paywalls don't make sense for online newspapers, the one major remaining holdout is still the Wall Street Journal. So, it should come as little surprise that reporters wasted no time in tracking down new owner Rupert Murdoch to see if he stood by earlier comments suggesting that he'd make the Wall Street Journal free online. It certainly sounds like he's still leaning in that direction, saying that he doesn't see how making it free would hurt the paper, and that, if done right, it could help make the paper a lot more money. Indeed, though, we're still waiting for an explanation for why it's taken the pre-eminent business newspaper in the world this long to understand the larger picture.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: media, murdoch, newspapers, paywall
Companies: dow jones, wall street journal
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Gotta Love Rupert
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Wall Street Journal Paywall
What I find most interesting is how The Wall Street Journal and New York Times each approached paid online content.
The Wall Street Journal gives away its editorial content through Opinionjournal.com, Careerjournal.com and that site where they put Mossberg's column. It protects its news content behind the paywall.
The New York Times gives away its news content but was protecting its opinion journalists behind a paywall.
The Wall Street Journal is convinced the product it can charge extra for is its news journalism. The New York Times thought it was Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd. "The news? Oh, that's free..."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Maybe the WSJ has remained a pay site
There have been articles from many places over the years commenting on how WSJ online has bucked the trend of losing money by making their web site a pay service. That may no longer be true, but for a long time it did make money.
Murdoch will make whatever decision makes him the most money. Say what you want about the man, but he can get profit out of an industry that has been dying for decades.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I'm a fan of FoxNews*, but I really hope he doesn't turn the Journal into a print version of the channel. There's no real reason to, since that sort of market is already covered by the New York Post.
* Yep. Someone who admits to liking FoxNews. Feel free to respond with the anti-FoxNews bromide of the day. Try to to be original - please! =)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That aside, this seems like a good plan.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Still all comes down to a propaganda machine for the government's IMO.
There's 'certain' things you won't really hear in the 'big media', but yet - can find tons of info on the web and smaller news sites...
I used to be partisan, but one day - I realized both sides have the same agenda, they just bicker over the methods.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Kyros
Fox News does what is profitable. That's why so many more of their reports are about sex than the CNNs of the world. Yeah, that's right you neo-cons. Fox News is in business to make money, and sex sells. So do neo-con values. That's why they do both all the time. .It's also why I don't watch Fox News much since I don't need any more sex (I've got 5 kids - ironic, isn't it?) and I can't stand the neo-con philosophy.
But since Murdoch seems very good at setting up media outlets and letting them run with their own philosophy, I do not think anyone has to worry about the WSJ changing their content. He doesn't care what their content is. He cares if they make money. WSJ has a reputation to uphold or else they lose their subscriber base and therefore lose money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]