Schadenrupe: Murdoch Woes, Others’ Joy and What the WSJ Editorial Misses

The Journal itself, with its publisher gone in a heartbeat, wouldn't be hurt with a little contrition either. It is, unmistakeably, owned by News Corp and run by Rupert Murdoch. As such, it should distance itself from what anyone would think is wrongdoing, and use its space, to defend its own ...

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New News Corp Strategy: Become an Even More American Company

News Corp can try to make itself over, as completely and quickly as it can, as an American entertainment company, with global investments (Britain, Italy, Germany, India, the Middle East). That initiative -- we may presume a new CEO some time in the not-too-distant future -- will focus on ...

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The Myths of Murdoch: Real, Unreal and Surreal

Please, don't tell me we're "all guilty," in the U.S., as well. We've heard a lot of citing of ABC's checkbook journalism controversy with the litany of crimes apparently committed by those calling themselves journalists. Treading on society's victims lives, paying off police for years and ...

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13 Questions on the Murdoch, News Corp Scandal

Who knew what and when did they know it? This is no longer hacking-the-royals affair, but a major criminal case. So the questions, up and down the News Corp/News International (parent of all UK newspapers) becomes which execs knew what, when. That's from Rebekah Brooks to Rupert Murdoch ...

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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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FT Declares Independence (from Apple) Day

It sounds like a dream come true: cut costs and maintain control of the business. The risk: What will the FT -- which won't be selling digital subscriptions through Apple's stores -- miss out on? What about the lead generation Apple's 200 million registered (with credit cards on file) users can ...

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Fox Trumps Sammon Confession….with The Donald

For anyone following Murdoch's long-standing campaign against the BBC, and its public funding -- a campaign now having an effect as Britain suffers through terrible economic times -- Fox's drumbeat of anti-NPR coverage is no surprise. Public radio, and public media, are a counterweight to Fox; ...

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Beyond Journalism, Beyond Press, Journalism Online Moves into the B2B World

They ran into these realities of the newspaper business: 1. You can have the best technology in the world, and it'll be a slow sell to publishers. 2. The news industry is small, and getting smaller. 3. The revenue streams are smaller, and JO's share of them is smaller. 4. Nothing -- meaning ...

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Nine Questions as the NYT’s Pay Fence Gets Ready to Go Global

Is part of the plan a backdoor Sunday paper/digital access new bundle? Three of the people I talked with on the day of the announcement had begun to run the subscribe-to-Sunday, get-free-digital access numbers in their head. At a $4-a-week introductory rate, that’s $208 a year. Which gets you ...

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NYT’s Good Timing on Pay Launch, Amid News Chaos

Here is the growing epiphany about these core readers: Not only do they pay you, they use lots more than the fly-by people, the non-core sent by Google, Facebook, Twitter and all manner of other referrals. More than 50% of the Financial Times traffic comes from about 10% of its unique visitors, ...

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