According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, publishers of general news will find it hard to charge for their online content given the abundance of free news available, reported Reuters. Schmidt was speaking via video link at a Q&A session at the Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge, UK, responding to News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch's announcement that he planned to start charging online.

"In general these models have not worked for general public consumption because there are enough free sources that the marginal value of paying is not justified based on the incremental value of quantity," Reuters quoted him as saying. "So my guess is for niche and specialist markets ... it will be possible to do it but I think it is unlikely that you will be able to do it for all news."

And indeed, some niche publications have already shown that they can successfully charge online, such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. This view seems somewhat at odds with Google's long, detailed proposal of how it could help publishers operate online subscription and micropayment schemes, which it produced in response to a call from the Newspaper Association of America. It suggests that Google might not seriously intend to pursue the proposal, and if it does, such statements are not going to build publishers' trust in the company's idea.

The New York Post, the News Corp-owned NYC tabloid, has rolled out a new version of its website that offers easier navigation and highlights more local content. Multimedia and web-exclusive features also get a boost with the redesign.

The top navigation bar now divides content into the four main sections of the newspaper: news, Page Six (gossip), sports and entertainment. When visitors scroll over the category title, a window appears with links to the top stories and a further breakdown into sub-sections. Also interesting to note is the hidden ad appearing at the bottom of each rollover window.

Side navigation on the NYPost.com homepage is aimed at New Yorkers, with a list of the top news and events from each borough. There are also separate pages dedicated to each neighborhood of the city. In a further example of specialized local content, the site also promotes itself as a source for information on high school sports.

For each story, the Post includes separate tabs to show off associated multimedia content. In addition, the new site makes it easier to browse the paper's collection of photos, videos and blogs.

James Murdoch, head of News International and son of media mogul Rupert, strongly criticised the BBC in his speech at MediaGuardian's Edinburgh International Television Festival on Friday and during a Q&A session the following day, calling for the corporation licence fee funding to be significantly reduced. His attack on the BBC was accompanied by extensive criticism of the way the British media industry is regulated.

Murdoch described the "chilling" hold that the BBC has over the media landscape, stressing that its news channels and website were inhibiting the ability of commercial competitors to invest in news and implying that it would put newspapers out of business. He emphasised the size and extent of the corporation, which publishes material that he thinks a state-supported institution should not, referring to "Orwellian" state control.

Rupert Murdoch has reiterated his intention to charge online at all News Corp-owned newspapers in the near future. Speaking on a conference call with analysts about News Corp's earnings, he said that the goal is to start charging within the next financial year, ending in June 2010, reported paidContent's Staci Kramer.

News Corp reported a $3.4bn net loss in the last financial year to June. "Quality journalism is not cheap," the Guardian quoted Murdoch as saying. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites." He declared himself willing to take the risk to lead the industry in switching to a paid model, the Guardian reported, and said that he believes others will follow. PaidContent said that he suggested that WSJ.com will be a model for charging on the other news sites.

In the UK, the charging model would affect the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World. Murdoch expressed his enthusiasm for capitalising on the popularity of the latter, reported the Guardian. It was recently confirmed that the Sunday Times will have a standalone website, and rumours have suggested that this could be used as a test case for charging online.