We ignore internet at our peril, Murdoch warns editors

[emad]

Guardian
Chris Tryhorn, City correspondent
Thursday April 14, 2005

Rupert Murdoch has admitted he "didn't do as much as should have" to confront the digital challenges faced by his newspaper business, which owns the Sun, Times and News of the World in the UK as well as titles in the US and Australia.

Describing himself as a "digital immigrant" in contrast to his young daughters, who would be "digital natives", he said the internet was "an emerging medium that is not my native language".

In a speech to American editors in Washington, Mr Murdoch issued a stark warning to the industry, arguing that the web was "a fast-developing reality we should grasp".

He said consumers wanted "control over the media, instead of being controlled by it", pointing to the proliferation of website diaries known as "blogs" and message boards.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1459697,00.html

[meegbear]

1. Thank God he didn't do as much ...

Fox Internet! We stream. You decide.

[pacalo]

2. It's creepy that he's got his sights on the internet for his propaganda.

He said consumers between the ages of 18-34 were increasingly using the web as their medium of choice for news and neglected more traditional media.

Young people's attitudes towards newspapers were "especially alarming", he said. "Only 9% describe us as trustworthy, a scant 8% find us useful, and only 4% of respondents think we're entertaining."

He's wrong about the ages (18-34) who are turning to the web. It extends beyond the age of 34.

He's also wrong about why we're turning to the internet for news. We're looking for the straight news -- not his propaganda.

The tv networks' late concerns about the internet remind me of the music industry ignoring the file-sharing on the internet until it was beyond their control. If the music industry had been smart, they would have anticipated the power of the internet years before file-sharing became a reality, & they could have used it to their advantage without suing users after the damage to their industry had been done. All corporations thrive when they anticipate the future.

In any case, I don't want Murdoch's fingerprints on the internet. At all.

[dweller]

3. what irony

He said consumers wanted "control over the media, instead of being controlled by it"

any your part in that was what Rupie?

dp