Results matching “rupert murdoch 1”

Unlike those he decries as "misguided cynics," global media mogul Rupert Murdoch believes that newspapers will reach "new heights" in the 21st century.

Although the print newspaper is going to face changes, "it will always be around," Murdoch said, in one version or another.

Indonesian media, property, infrastructure and banking tycoon James Riady is to shortly launch a new daily newspaper in Indonesia, the Jakarta Globe. The new newspape for Indonesia  was reported on back in August, but it has emerged that it will hit the market soon.

News Corporation executive Lachlan Murdoch - son of Rupert Murdoch - is also reportedly taking an interest and looking at other media investments in Indonesia with Riady.

The 48-page, full-colour English-language broadsheet newspaper will initially just be distributed in large Indonesian cities and Singapore, with a print run of "over 50,000", according to launch editor David Plott. Plott is a former editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.

Plott says, "Indonesia's a little like India, in the sense that it's a market where print publications are still quite profitable and there's still quite a lot of growth potential; in terms of advertising it's a $US3 billion a year market."

The competition for the new player in the market will be the Jakarta Post, an English-language daily with circulation of 18,000 copies. It will also have an online version; however, issues surround the name jakartaglobe.com, as a local news aggregator already operates under the name.

There have been significant challenges for the newspaper with retraining staff, as "Newspapers aren't what they used to be. You can't survive by just reporting what happened, particularly in Indonesia, where things aren't always what they appear to be, and what's actually going on behind events is not clear to anyone except insiders."

Source: The Australian via IFRA Executive News Service

In the latest stage of reinvigorating the Wall Street Journal brand, its online edition - WSJ.com - has undergone a huge makeover, relaunching on Tuesday.

The parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., appears determined to put its mark on its latest acquisition; the President of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Gordon McLeod, reportedly said that the investment into the website revamp is a "big financial commitment."

The Editors Weblog spoke with the Deputy Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Alan Murray, about the shake up occurring at the newspaper. Murray was bullish about the changes, saying, "The new owners have made it clear that they no longer want people to look at the Wall Street Journal as a second read. It should be their primary read, it should suit all their information needs. We want it to be the ultimate news source for our engaged, affluent and educated readers."

Murray went on to speak about the redesign of WSJ.com, the recent changes in newsroom layout and management, and the ambitious plans for the future of the Wall Street Journal brand. He made it clear that, "(The website relaunch) is not a finishing point. This is the launching pad." 

Murray was particularly excited about the relaunch occuring at the same time as the Lehman Brothers story breaking, saying "We are delighted that the biggest financial news story since 1929 happens to coincide with the launch of our revamped site!"

"Newsreel" revolutionizes site navigation
For the new, sleek look of WSJ.com, News Corp's primary design motivation was to take advantage of users who "come in through the side door". Individual article pages mostly found through search engines, have been equipped with multiple navigation tools, to keep readers on the WSJ site.

Arguably the most interesting navigation feature is "Newsreel", essentially a news ticker placed at the top of the article. As the reader browses an article page, Newsreel scrolls through the days most important stories from the section the user is in. For example, if a user is in the business section, the Newsreel displays the top business stories of the day.    

In addition to the new layout and navigation functions, the Journal's newsroom is upping its content production to help keep readers on the site. The redesign also aims to be more colourful with more photos and includes an enhanced video player, an increasingly prevalent aspect of all news websites. Further features are set to roll out over the coming months. 

Social network for the business community
Perhaps most important for the WSJ's new owners is maintaining WSJ.com's impressive online subscription base, which has reached over 1 million paying members. Apart from increasing content, News Corp hopes to hold on to these subscribers with exclusive features such as WSJ Community, a social network for WSJ subscribers.

The key feature of this new social networking tool is that members must use their real names, which is aimed at cutting out any random, anonymous comments or useless noise found on other Internet news sites. Murray believes the quality of the site's subscriber base will create "a higher quality conversation". He acknowledges WSJ.com will not achieve the numbers of a chat on Yahoo Finance but, "we think the usefulness and quality is going to be key". The Journal is considering opening up the Community to non-subscribers in the future, who, just like subscribers, would only be able to join and interact with their real name.

WSJ.com has been the world's most successful subscription newssite for years and its membership keeps growing. According to Murray, online subscriptions have increased 26% in the past two years. And the number of unique user is skyrocketing too: "By our numbers, we now have 17 million visitors to WSJ.com" - 8 million more than two years ago - "and in September it is going to be even bigger than that. Therefore, Murray doesn't see any conflict in bringing more people in and letting them sample WSJ content.


Integrated Newsroom

Murray revealed that the Wall Street Journal is not only undergoing a radical change on its website, but is also changing in its newsroom, "The relaunch coincides with a complete integration and reorganisation of the reporting and editing staff."

Managing Editor, Robert Thomson, has spearheaded the integration programme, which has brought together the online and print staff. Last week, Thomson debuted a news hub in the newsroom where the senior editors from print, online, Dow Jones Newswires and MarketWatch all sit together and co-ordinate the coverage throughout the day.

The morning news meeting has been "totally turned upside down," according to Murray. It now begins with a report from the online team, then from Dow Jones Newswires, then MarketWatch and, only after discussing the coverage for real-time news, do they look at coverage for the day's paper.

The substantial Dow Jones Newswire team is also being moved to make the integration process physical, with the whole team being brought across the river to sit alongside their New York print colleagues. This move will happen, "sometime next Spring" Murray said.

The Wall Street Journal team has been undergoing training to prepare for the integration process. Murray reported, "A simple example is headlines. You have to write a different kind of headline in the online world and in the print world. We will continue to do that kind of training."

The future of the Wall Street Journal

The Editors Weblog asked if this process was the beginning of a long term-reinvigoration process for the Wall Street Journal brand, Murray said: "You bet! We have very ambitious plans for international, we have very ambitious plans for premium products on top of this online platform and we have a whole schedule of online innovations that we are planning over the course of the next 18 months. This is just the beginning"

"Look for us forming closer links with all the social networks because we are not trying to compete with social networks, we want to make it as easy as possible for our users to share our content over social networks and to bring their friends and connection into our community"

Murray also added that News Corp is confident about the future of print, stating, "The Wall Street Journal under its new management is investing in both print and online, so I would say we are very optimistic about the future of newspapers. We may be the only people who are optimistic! We are dedicated to delivering our news on all platforms"

Source: Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, paidcontent.org

See also:

US: Murdoch on the future of newspapers
US: Wall Street Journal to launch new website on Tuesday
Wall Street Journal unveils magazine supplement, WSJ
US: Wall Street Journal launches new mobile application
Murdoch: Newspapers willing to invest in new forms of delivery will prosper

Rupert Murdoch was recently declared one of Esquire's 75 most influential people of the 21st Century, in an issue of the monthly magazine that included a special e-Ink cover.

In an interview with Esquire, Murdoch discussed his personal history, the effects of growing up in a journalistic family, and his first foray into the US market with the purchase of the tabloid daily, The Star.  He also talked about the challenges faced by newspapers, competition between the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and the age of the Internet and social networking.

The Future of Newspapers

Murdoch admitted that he "did not know the future" but that he was sure that knowledge is going to become increasingly more valuable.  He went on to discuss the changing business models of old newspapers and even admitted that "if you look at the readership of newspapers...its worrying."  But went on to talk about the future of the Internet and its "tremendous" use. 

Mark Scott, the managing director of Australia's public service broadcaster, ABC, claimed in a speech at the National Press Club yesterday that Rupert Murdoch "is the last, best hope for quality newspapers."

Scott, quoting Michael Wolff's upcoming Murdoch biography, repeated the claim that Murdoch "may be the last person to love newspapers."

He went on to reference the fact that the only international newspaper groups surviving the crisis internationally are those that have diversified into other areas in order to off set costs caused by audience fragmentation.  "There is only one print mogul who has diversified his portfolio enough to offset the costs of quality journalism against profits made elsewhere in his business."  

Sources: Follow the Media, The Australian, The Guardian, Roy Greenslade

See Also:
US: Murdoch has little interest in multimedia theory, wants to buy NYT
Opinion: new media will not bridge the gap as quality journalism decreases in Australia
Murdoch: Newspapers willing to invest in new forms of delivery will prosper
US: Murdoch and Zuckerman plan to merge business functions of The New York Post and The Daily News

Rupert Murdoch's biographer, Michael Wolff, reveals in his forthcoming book on the News Corp chairman that the media magnate has some surprising viewpoints on new media.

Despite what News Corp report in press releases, Murdoch has little interest or time for the prevailing converged, multimedia theory.

Wolff reports, "He's really not interested in all this talk about newspapers as the basis of new information franchises...blah blah. That's maybe what they say at News Corp to gull Wall Street. But Rupert Murdoch wants the physical thing."

He goes on to say, "He pokes the paper, slashes at it - move this, reduce that, enlarge this. It may be the ultimate fantasy, his continuing, contrary belief in newspapers."

Furthermore, Murdoch would like to acquire the New York Times. According to Wolff its, "Irresistible to him. I've watched him go through the numbers, plot out a merger with the Journal's backroom operations, and fantasize about the staff's quitting en masse as soon as he entered the scared temple."

Murdoch also reportedly would like Barack Obama to win the forthcoming US Presidential election as, "he'll sell more papers".

Wolff has unparalled access to the media tycoon over a nine-month period. Wolff told the New York Observer that the book should be out in December.

Source: Press Gazette

Eric Beecher, former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, says that Australian politicians have to support the idea that journalism may be vital to a democracy, while pointing out that quality journalism risks dying out.

"We can cherrypick. We can do the commentary and a little bit of investigative journalism and that kind of thing, but I can't see a business model for independent journalism funding hundreds of journalists to do the bigger things that you have to do to fulfil the democratic mission," said Beecher.

According to The Australian, Fairfax Media's recent decision to cut 5% or 550 workers from papers like The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's The Age may "blow a hole" in Australia's traditional quality media that new online media like blog sites would not be able to fill since the number of staff employed at such outlets may be about 10 times smaller than at traditional ones.

Beecher thinks that Fairfax is sending a message that its duty is to shareholders and "not to maintaining quality journalism and its place as the fourth estate".

Rupert Murdoch's News Limited remains as the "sole" commercial source of serious journalism, The Australian writes. The future holds "celebrity-driven pap" as paper and magazine content, for which advertisers are moving to the Internet, according to Beecher.

Source: The Australian

Over the years, tabloid content in the US has shifted from "bloody car accidents" and "gruesome mutilations" in the 1950's to celebrity gossip in the 1960's, reports TIME magazine's Kate Pickert. However, it may be the Web that seems to have reversed editorial efforts as some tabloids like the Weekly World News have had to shut down.

Tabloids experienced a circulation growth in the 1980's, Pickert writes. However, television in the mid-90's took focus away from US tabloids and made circulation plummet by 30%, after broadcast coverage of OJ Simpson's trial "eclipsed anything that could be done in print". Today it is the Internet that is "impinging on tabloid's turf", wrote Pickert.

The "supermarket" tabloid the National Enquirer decreased the quantity of horrific imagery and began to feature more material on "alien abductions" and "medical oddities", in order to draw in more housewives.

By the late 1960's as titles like the Enquirer, the Globe and Rupert Murdoch's Star all began to focus their attention on celebrity gossip. Weekly World News, self-dubbed "The World's Only Reliable Newspaper", continued to write about "weird" material such as "zombie sightings".   

Although celebrity print publications have gained popularity in recent years, it is mostly in the "glossy" version that Star adopted around four years ago.

Source: TIME

News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch said today, when announcing News Corp's fourth quarter results, "That the newspaper sector is changing is clear - but companies willing to invest in new forms of delivery, which have a commitment to quality, will prosper."

Murdoch went on to say that he has been cautious in the past about charging for viewing a website. However, Murdoch's recently acquired  Wall Street Journal pay-to-view website www.wsj.com has seen an 88 per cent increase in subscriptions, which start at £44.50 for a year.

News Corp.'s newspapers experienced a revenue boost this year, which may be due to the acquisition of Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Source: Press Gazette

The Guardian recently spoke with John Wintherow. In his first interview in nine years, the Sunday Times editor discusses the "tactile" joy of the Sunday paper, reading every word of the paper (and other nostalgia) and impersonates the competition. Below follows an edited transcript of what appears on the Guardian's website:

Over the past year, speculation about the future of the longest-serving editor in Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper empire has mounted as his paper's sales have declined... Highly successful and very low-profile, Witherow is in some ways like his newspaper - admired and respected, but without much fanfare.
 
Declining print sales and online competition have led several newspaper groups to merge the daily and Sunday staff with their online counterparts. News International has ruled out such integration. "We will remain separate entities with separate staff" says Witherow, adding that Sunday titles suffer from integration. There will be no editorial job cuts despite an efficiency drive conducted by the Murdoch-appointed Boston Consulting Group. He is talking to his daily counterpart, James Harding, about how the Sunday can be better "represented" online - the weekly drives a third of timesonline's traffic. Witherow is boyishly enthusiastic about the "tactile" joy of a Sunday read and wonders jokily whether the environmental damage of reading his newspaper online is greater than printing all that paper. "Newsprint still has the same elemental excitement about it - don't you think that?"

He still receives a weekly call from Rupert Murdoch, typically on Saturday evenings. "It's always been the same," he says. Unlike his counterpart at the Sun, Rebekah Wade, Witherow wasn't called to give evidence in the recent House of Lords inquiry about the influence of the media titan on his titles but he has always been "open" about it, he says. Does Murdoch suggest what the paper should be covering? "No ... he just likes to know what's going on. The conversation is invariably about world economics."

...One of the biggest criticisms of recent years is that the paper breaks fewer stories than it did. Even the first two issues of the relaunched paper failed to deliver a knockout scoop. "Ideally we would have liked something bigger but you can't always organise it that way," Witherow concedes. The conservative paper has instead landed big interviews with the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and French first lady Carla Bruni.

A former foreign and home news reporter, Witherow sounds a little nostalgic for the fiercer competition of the 1980s and accepts that "generally Sundays on the news front are not as strong as they were" then. Staff and former colleagues suggest that he is far from complacent. One calls him "absolutely relentless", regularly berating editors if he felt their sections could improve. And Witherow does admit that there's something in a rival newspaper every Sunday that he wishes he'd had.

He denies that the Sunday Times is going downmarket in a bid to beat the Associated titles or the top-selling Saturday Telegraph and instead suggests there must be something for everyone in the paper. "He knows the Sunday Times reader better than anyone else and, annoyingly, he is always right," says Will Lewis, who spent three years as Witherow's business editor before going on to edit the Telegraph.

Despite a reputation as a tough perfectionist, Witherow is relaxed, thoughtful and funny during our interview - even doing impressions of rival newspaper executives. His public image seems largely derived from his failure to grant many interviews - "are they a useful thing to do with your time?" - and from the contrast with his predecessor Andrew Neil. "Both he and Dacre are in the same mould," says Hinton. "They're old school in that way and don't hang around on TV ... You can't get him to go out for lunch after Wednesday. He is a very, very involved editor."

Witherow used to read every word of the enormous newspaper before it went to print. "I tried to do it for a few years and went cross-eyed," he laughs. "It drove me bonkers, not because of the content but just demands of time." Now he signs off every front cover and reads three main news sections before publication.

Source: Journalism.co.uk

Long-time rivals Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns The New York Post, and Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the real estate developer who owns The Daily News, are having preliminary talks for joint ventures combining their home delivery operatons, printing, distribution and back-office tasks such as human resources or marketing.

Both companies hope to preserve their separate newsrooms and to share only the business functions.

Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for the newspapers, said that they are looking "to lower costs, improve efficiency and strengthen our respective newspapers."

Even though the media companies have been considering sharing costs for nearly a decade, the issue has become a pressing one due to the current economic situation in the newspaper industry.

Source: The New York Times
 

Last Monday, Katherine Weymouth, the Washington Post's publisher, announced that Marcus W. Brauchli, 47, would be the new top editor of the Post. Mr. Brauchli's former experience at the Wall Street Journal as top editor, with its integrated print and Web newsrooms, might prove valuable for the Post.

Weymouth is the first Post publisher to have direct control of the website. She hopes that Brauchli will help the Post to progress into new media.

According to the New York Times, the Post is undergoing budget cuts, job cuts, ad revenue reduction and circulation decrease.

In 2007, Brauchli resigned following News Corp.'s buyout of the Journal, lead by Rupert Murdoch, after which Robert Thompson replaced him.

In the last 8 years, the Post's circulation dropped from 800,000 to 673,000. Even though its website draws over nine million unique users per month, the paper hasn't been able to transfer the traffic into revenue. The Post's profit has declined from $14.9 million last year to $1.2 million.

Source: The New York Times

See Also:
US: Washington Post may launch separate political site
US: WaPo editor stepping down
US: Wall Street Journal's  managing editor  Robert Thompson announces editorial changes
US: Thompson named managing editor of Wall Street Journal