pay walls
f Death?
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From just one pay wall, Murdoch wants to create a large enclosed walled garden with a barbed wire fence on top
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to read its journalism and it is attracting advertising and no longer losing money. Not so well known was an attempt to offer the Independent – which he also purchased for a nominal £1 – free in London during the general election. If the Indie moved in that direction it would cause ructions across the national press. Then there are the new media players and the young entrepreneurs. Most internet providers, with the exception of aol, now rely on churnalism rather than journalism for their news – just repeating other media outlets headlines and stories. But the threat of pay walls has started a rethink. Msn, which has some original content, commissioned me through Raw Cut TV, an independent TV company, to pay for trial blogs and video blogs during the election and emergency budget. Peter Bale, the head of msn’s news content, is keen to go further and commission investigative journalism pieces. They are not thinking alone and the finance behind companies such as Microsoft and Google is so vast that they could challenge any pay wall. Computer manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard, through its foundation, already funds work useful to journalists to open up data held by the European Union, particularly on previously secret farm subsidies. Other big players hovering; most intriguing is Tory Lord Ashcroft, whom people expect soon to resign the deputy chairmanship of the Tory Party to concentrate on business interests. Before the election, he started buying up websites, funding bloggers and publishing ventures. At first it looked like a typical Tory plot to win the election with his ownership of Conservative Home and bankrolling of Tory blogger and publisher, Iain Dale. It is becoming clear that Ashcroft’s interests are commercial, not political. He is looking at a way to make the internet pay and is against the pay wall approach taken by Murdoch. Extraordinary as it may seem – given that he was on the wrong end of a press investigation – he is said to be keen to revive quality journalism. So what of the future? It is the combination of new ways of attracting advertising revenue and ideas by bright geeks that is really driving the change forward. Google, Twitter and Facebook realise that they hold enormous amounts of personal data on a younger generation that cares less about its privacy than older generations. Technological developments now mean that it is possible to target individuals directly with products they might want to buy, rather than place advertisements in publications that could attract sales. More importantly the development of Ipads, Iphones and
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