UK: Murdoch's News International to expand via Web

Posted by Maddie Hanna on May 26, 2006 at 10:54 AM

Expect News International publications to integrate themselves more fully into cyberspace, as Rupert Murdoch is pushing for an expansion of the company’s Internet communities this summer. Recruitment is underway for a “new online community team as part of an exciting project" expected to focus on more forums and user-generated content.

Even Murdoch — initially an Internet skeptic, according to journalism.co.uk — realizes the importance of moving media online. His News International runs The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun, News of the World and the Times Literary Supplement. Parent group News Corporation bought social networking site MySpace in 2005 for $508 million.

In related news, News International has announced The Times will print in the U.S. starting June 6 — the first time since the paper launched in 1788, according to the Guardian. The edition will coincide with the start of the World Cup and is expected to compete with the Financial Times, the only British paper currently printed in New York. Murdoch has expressed interest in purchasing the FT.

The initiative is yet another component of the online expansion. A Times executive: "This is really an online play. There is no better billboard in America than a newsstand."

Source: journalism.co.uk, The Guardian

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