Nine Questions on the News Corp Split: The Rise of Twenty-First Century Fox and The Daily’s Demise

Why did The Daily fail? I think the short answer is that it missed the first law of media: Make it interesting. The Daily was attractive, even sometimes stunning, in its visual appeal, but too empty-headed to attract a daily readership. If you are going to call something The Daily, you better ...

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The Newsonomics of Rupert Murdoch, American Publisher

Tribune’s own market assessment of all its eight newspaper properties, part of the bankruptcy proceeding, came in at $623 million, compared to $2.85 billion for the broadcast business. Without competitive bidders, that amount may be optimistic. With competitive bidders — especially in L.A. and ...

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The Newsonomics of the News Dial ‘O Matic

Today, in 2012, those questions are more pressing in our age of news deluge. We’re confronted at every turn, at every finger gesture, with more to read or view or listen to. It’s not just the web: It’s also the smartphone and especially the tablet, birthing new aggregator products — Google ...

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The Newsonomics of U.S. Media Concentration

Is it just imported theater, though? We have to wonder how much the cries of “media monopoly” will cross the Atlantic. Is there much resonance here in the States for the outrage about media power in the U.K.? Will the sins (its newspaper unit now being called to account by a Parliamentary ...

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The Murdoch Fall-Out: BSkyB, U.S. Cross-Ownership and the Future of News Corp’s News Holdings

For Americans, it's a bit tough to understand. Where does NOTW fit in? How does the BSkyB acquisition figure into this? Is Murdoch's power much different in UK than the U.S.? And: are there any implications for what happens with News Corp properties in the U.S.? That last question became newly ...

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9 Questions: Zell’s Clown Car, The New “100,” Tablets & Print Circ & Daughter of Alesia

Will the cats of newspaper industry be successfully herded? After pouring millions into his Alesia project, Rupert Murdoch gave the retreat order to his would-be Roman warriors, killing the tablet-oriented paid news portal initiative. Though his News Corp is the biggest news company in the ...

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Let’s Not Let That New-Fangled “Wireless” Thing Confuse Us

Google and Verizon, of all companies, know that it is the mobile web that's the big prize going forward. Choose your favorite metaphor. The Internet will be like water, like electricity, like air. For the next generation, it will just be there, accessible from anywhere at the touch of some ...

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The Number

It seems to me that we're all a bit confused in this country between access and information. We pay hundreds of dollars for access -- cable, Internet, wireless monthly bills -- but we don't like the notion that a news company might charge us the price of a grande latte for a news app, or ...

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