Commercial media walking the tightrope?
Many column inches (and web scrolls) were dedicated to Rupert Murdoch’s bold declaration on the 6th of August 2009 that web content should be paid for. We are all used to Murdoch’s bold statements but this was one to be taken seriously because it is already happening. The prolific Wall Street Journal for instance, one of Murdoch’s treasures, now charges for its online content. Aside from merely commenting on the fact that access to journalism on the web should become paid for, Murdoch also emphasised that the quality of journalism is at stake: “Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting” (Murdoch, 2009). This declaration could be a hit at citizen journalism or Murdoch’s last attempt at salvaging his golden years of news making – whatever said and done it certainly provokes food for thought on the status of journalism on the web.
The initial first response to all of this is simply will the web-user public go for it? If journalism was to come at a price, will news-sites still attract an avid fan base? This is open to debate and only time can really tell. I for one feel that this will raise serious problems for online news. The Internet, from its onset, has been about access to a free world of endless information. The Internet culture as we know it is based around the extraordinary power of sharing, creating and experiencing an entire information society – for free. Rupert Murdoch’s comments must not be dusted under the carpet though – for years quality print journalism has come at a price, surely the same must apply to quality web content? After all, the journalism business, be it print, broadcast or online, is at the end of the day just that – a business. Peter Anderson, in an insightful article entitled ‘Challenges for Journalism’ argues that “people have to care about decline in the quality of news services” for it to be taken seriously. With this in mind, I find it hard to believe that people won’t go elsewhere if their favourite news site starts charging. Another aspect to consider is if news sites do retain a section of their audience of paid-for content, this is more than likely to be people who can afford to pay for content on a regular basis.
If we are to go with this presupposition that commercial journalism is likely to be given the finger should they start to charge – what does this mean for the rest of the media society. Surely this means a bow in the armour for public-funded media? News sites such as BBC Online and the ABC website have gained huge audience numbers and are likely to up in popularity if commercial news sites start charging. It came as no surprise then when a different Murdoch protested that public-funded media such as the BBC was creating the death of independent media. Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival in August 2009, James Murdoch stated “The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision”. There is certainly a tense thin line between paid-for journalism and handing over control to the competition.
Which then leaves the other obstacle for independent media – citizen journalism. This current buzz word in the media world has been liberating in terms of providing the lay man with a voice. The recent Oxford Social Media Convention as reported by The Guardian focused on the fact that journalism must start to take notice of the rise of citizen journalism. In an article for the IEE Review entitled Rise of the Blog, Stephanie Gordon states that there are “currently some 50 million blogs worldwide” and they are starting to be taken very seriously within the information society (Gordon, 2006). This undoubtedly creates competition for paid-for online journalism as there is growing amount of free journalism that is available on the Web.
The future for online journalism seems very much up in the air particularly with the question of paid-for content. Can Murdoch’s intervention take off successfully or will it simply initiate a new found reign for public-funded media and citizen journalism?
