Murdoch On Old Media vs. New Media

Via Instapundit, CNET has a very good report on remarks that the News Corps' Rupert Murdoch made in recent lectures held by the Australian Broadcast Corporation, Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole.

Because it is Murdoch, the Left will have their usual hissy fit and attempt to ignore what he says. That would be a mistake. Here are a few excerpts:

"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."

"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."

Read the whole article. Murdoch is not pessimistic about the future of the newspaper industry - he just thinks that it had to change and adapt. And clean up its own act.