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.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
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Comments Policy
"...the day the neeeewwsies
November 17, 2008 - 11:28 ET by HockeyKid"...the day the neeeewwsies died..."
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Bet this report won't make
November 17, 2008 - 11:43 ET by SeashellBet this report won't make the papers.
G'day Pinch
November 17, 2008 - 11:48 ET by Cool Arrow"Ow 'bout ye go playin' wi' tha' lorries in the street Shulzberger.
Murdoch is right. The print
November 17, 2008 - 12:18 ET by winston smithMurdoch is right. The print media has evolved into a pro-left propaganda machine. It's in the way they report the news, the sort of candidates they unabashedly get behind, even injecting left politics into traditionally non-political pieces like culture, cooking and entertainment. If your conservative in opinoin, most newspapers have become flat-out unreadable.
Once a proud, strong, and influential industry, the print media has become obsolete and irrelevant. And they made it that way by reporting the news to those with only a particular view on politics and culture while deliberately excluding the other half of the electorate. The vast majority of the people with money, families, jobs, mortgages --- in other words, responsible Americans, don't really care about newspapers anymore and won't give up the coinage to read stories and opinions that continually mock and ridicule their lifestyles and political views.
The loss of interest and personnel in the news industry perfectly mirrors the loss in a once loyal readership who were abandoned by the news industry years ago. You reap what you sow -- or something like that.
The vast majority of the
November 17, 2008 - 13:01 ET by dscottThe vast majority of the people with money, families, jobs, mortgages --- in other words, responsible Americans, don't really care about newspapers anymore and won't give up the coinage to read stories and opinions that continually mock and ridicule their lifestyles and political views.
A big caveat don't you think? First, let's discount both the conservatives and liberals from consideration since they will vote for their respective candidate no matter what the MSM says. This leaves the independents, those whom I would characterize as apolitical because they don't recognize they have a stake in the outcome of the election and really don't understand the operating principles of the Dem and GOP. What we witnessed this last election was the bifurcation of the independents into those who listened and believed the MSM and those who didn't. Those who believed the MSM voted for Obama. Obama and the MSM did a good job of selling their POV due to the sheer volume of exposure for Obama. Like any product to be sold, exposing that product to the widest possible audience increases the change of it being bought. The Obama victory was a triumph of money to purchase advertising, that's all. Since the MSM was pretty much in the tank for Obama, McCain got scant positive coverage and thus I conclude those independents who did vote for McCain did so because of what they read on the internet.
The next election cycle of 2010 will pretty much be decided on how much more of the MSM credibility with the independents is damaged. Our job is to finish what we started, convince a substancial number more of the independents that what they hear and read from the MSM is totally worthless. NB and other sites do this by pointing out the missing information that is deliberately done by the MSM in crafting their message to support the assertion.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Does anybody remember...
November 17, 2008 - 12:40 ET by Secret Conservativewhen, exactly the media decided that the role of a journalist was not to report the news, but to tell their customers what to THINK about the news? Murdoch is correct, the media think we are a bunch of stupid sheeple (and to some extent they're right) but when I studied journalism we were taught that you report who, what, when, where, how and why - just the facts, Ma'am. Let the customer decide what to think about it.
The first I remember the media deciding they were powerful enough to be leading the people, was Watergate. But then, I'm only in my 50's. I also seem to recall the media doing a lot of propagandizing during the Viet Nam war and gloating about our defeat, as though it was their victory.
I was looking at the NYT stock price this morning, and am having one of those gloat moments myself...
»→ I remember
November 17, 2008 - 12:48 ET by Cool ArrowI believe it was the moment Dan Rather, upon being asked by Richard Nixon "Are you running for something" replied "No, Mr. President, are you?"
Having been so emboldened by the efforts of Woody and Bernie, the press sensed blood in the water and went on a feeding frenzy.
But earlier than that, maybe it was Cronkite with "the war is lost."
It had to be
November 17, 2008 - 19:57 ET by ahusserWhen the then monolithic media joined the 60's counterculture. I was there and a direct recipient of VVDS (Vietnam Veteran derangement syndrome). Just like today, why would being reasonable, responsible, objective be preferred when one can be cool instead and join all the excitement.
"...no civilization, no matter how rich, no matter how refined, can long survive once it loses the power to meet force with equal or superior force." - Bernard Knox
Glad you have this here
November 17, 2008 - 12:48 ET by bigtimerGlad you have this here Noel, I read this early this morning from Drudge I think it was, saved the link to put here somewhere today...
I doubt if they are going to listen to one word that Murdoch says, they will trudge on until they eventually destroy themselves...in my opinion anyway.
I just hope I am around to see the final destruction.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Murdoch is absolutely correct
November 17, 2008 - 13:02 ET by c5thenIt's why he is a billionaire. He entered the US Cable market with FoxNews and promptly kicked the butt of CNN, MSNBC and CNBC.
So many 'journalists' want to editorialize and decide which side of the story they are reporting on is the 'right side'. You can easily see this when they report on a story that clearly has two points of view and they cover only one of them. This is because of the Indoctrination that occurs in the schools of journalism and communication on the campuses of the very liberal colleges in this country.
Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!
Alan Keyes / Sarah Palin - 2012
Speaking of Condescension
November 17, 2008 - 14:32 ET by third eyeSo I was sitting around this Saturday watching tv when I was interrupted by a phone call. And guess who it was? A telemarketer doing a poll about the media, specifically about dc area newspapers. Usually I just hang up on the bastards, but I was game for giving my opinions about the media.
These are some of the questions they asked
Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information in the paper?
Do you feel the newspaper has too many pages?
Do you feel you are entitled to recieve free news and information?
"This is a polite way of
November 17, 2008 - 17:17 ET by ckc1227"This is a polite way of saying that these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves."
We just elected a Marxist who hangs with racists, terrorists and America haters, who likely is a racist, America hater himself. Those editors and reporters might be right.
ckc.... You should of
November 17, 2008 - 17:25 ET by bigtimerckc....
You should of heard the Senior Editor from The Politico this morning on the Washington Journal, he told a caller that The One had been vetted as much as any President could be vetted....by the MSM!
Is that rich or what...I was fuming!
Anybody care to listen to the segment of the show and the callers here is the link...his name is David Mark, talk about a leftist, but heck, no bias with The Politico now is there?
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
BT, they may have vetted
November 17, 2008 - 23:52 ET by ckc1227BT, they may have vetted him, but they kept what they learned mostly to themselves. That's why I'm tuning out more and more from all media sources, including Newsbusters. If I pay close attention to the endless covering for "the one" for the next 4 years, I may find myself on the roof of the highest building in town with thoughts of ending it all, lol.
AMEN! American Communist
November 17, 2008 - 18:21 ET by Clear thinkerAMEN!
American Communist Education - Special Edition
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
Fair & Balanced?
November 17, 2008 - 18:11 ET by LeftCoastRightieAnd wouldn't Murdoch be betraying FNC viewers by telling his staff to lay off The One since the latter is now president-elect?
Let Them Learn or Die away
November 18, 2008 - 07:13 ET by Jo5329Gone is the 8-track, gone is the VCR (or soon), so why not gone is the print media?
I tell our local rag when they call me or accost me on the street to get a subscription that I'm not a fishmonger and that's all their paper is worth to me. They don't get it.
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. " - President Gerald Ford, Presidential