Murdoch: Newspaper Editors and Reports Betrayed Readers' Trust

Rupert Murdoch thinks the newspaper industry will survive its current downturn, but that many editors, reporters, and owners will not.

The reason for their likely demise is that many of them betrayed the trust of their readers: "It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product."

As reported by CNet Sunday, Murdoch gave some straight talk about his industry during a lecture sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

"My summary of the way some of the established media has responded to the internet is this: it's not newspapers that might become obsolete. It's some of the editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers," said Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp. [...]

"The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly--and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."  [...]

"It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news-and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened. Today editors are losing this power. The Internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren't satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself. Journalists like to think of themselves as watchdogs, but they haven't always responded well when the public calls them to account." [...]

"A recent American study reported that many editors and reporters simply do not trust their readers to make good decisions. Let's be clear about what this means. This is a polite way of saying that these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves."

We couldn't have said it any better.