Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is reportedly predicting that newspaper companies will eventually be forced to start charging for their online content in order to survive.
Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. (NASDAQ: News Corp.) was quoted in a Reuters report as noting that online revenues for the Wall Street Journal, which is part of his media empire, are "not a gold mine," but also "not bad." In comparison, he reportedly cited the financial struggles of the New York Times, which currently provides free news content after a past foray into user fees.
"People reading news for free on the web, that's got to change," Murdoch was quoted as saying.
The remarks come at a time when newspapers are increasingly struggling to survive in a marketplace that has increasingly emphasized online content and advertising. The problem is aggravated by a poor economy that has local advertisers scaling back on their newspaper expenditures, or turning to lower-cost or more widely-read online options.
There have been numerous high-profile examples recently of problems in the newspaper industry. This week, Bloomberg reported that the Hearst newspaper company is seeking to cut costs 20 percent across the board. Also, the Rocky Mountain News recently folded after more than a century in business, while the Seattle Post Intelligencer became an online-only news source in response to its own revenue problems.
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