Murdoch Sees Opportunity in NYT's Troubles

Jobs complained to Murdoch about channel, supported New York Times

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs told Rupert Murdoch to his face last year that Fox News is "destructive" and that he was "blowing it" with the conservative news channel, reports Gawker , in the latest round of excerpts from Walter Isaacson's biography of the Apple founder . Jobs was invited to speak at the annual News Corp management retreat in 2010, and in exchange for talking he got to speak directly with Murdoch. "Fox has become a destructive force in our society," Jobs told Murdoch over dinner. "You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful." Murdoch, for his part, seemed unconcerned by the criticism from Jobs' "left-wing view." More»

Taiwanese animators explain the news again

(NEWSER) - Here's everything you need to know about the turf war between the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times in the Big Apple ... in animated form. (Get ready for Rupert Murdoch with a fin, and a Jets vs. Sharks homage). The YouTube video comes from Taiwanese New Media Animation, which has tackled other meaty issues of the day here and here . For more on the animators, see this profile in Wired . More»

Feud between Journal and Times getting nasty

(NEWSER) - Rupert Murdoch uses his Wall Street Journal today to tweak rival publisher Arthur Sulzberger of the New York Times. In a collage of photos illustrating a story on feminine-looking men, a familiar image shows up. "There is, in the bottom image of the lower quadrant of a male face, an unmistakable—if you pay attention to such things—dimple and odd right ear," writes Newser founder Michael Wolff at Vanity Fair . "Without a doubt," the Journal picked Sulzberger "as a prime example of its idea of a feminine-looking man." More»

(NEWSER) - Executives at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. have been meeting with rival newspaper publishers about a consortium that would charge for web content. The publishers of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times are all believed to have met with Jonathan Miller, the News Corp. officer overseeing digital strategy. But analysts remain skeptical that any payment scheme will make a significant dent in papers' balance sheets. More»

Journal subscription plan 'not a gold mine, but it's not bad'

(NEWSER) - The New York Times ought to be charging people to read its content, and so should every other newspaper that wants to survive, Rupert Murdoch said today. “People reading news for free on the Web, that’s got to change,” the News Corp chief said at a Washington conference, Reuters reports. Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is one of the few papers that charges for its web content. More»