News Corp. Talks Universal Paywall With Times, Post

Murdoch says move will wait until paywalls go up at newspaper sites

(NEWSER) - News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch wants to put a permanent end to “parasite” Google’s “kleptomania” when it comes to content on his newspapers’ websites. Murdoch says the Wall Street Journal and others will likely be removed from Google’s search registry “when we start charging”—that is, when planned paywalls go up, a process that has been delayed. More»

(NEWSER) - How to save newspapers and, in fact, journalism itself? Wire creator (and former newspaperman) David Simon implores the publishers of the New York Times and the Washington Post to start charging for their websites. “Content matters," he writes in the Columbia Journalism Review. "And you must find a way, in the brave new world of digitization, to make people pay for that content. If you do this, you still have a product and there is still an industry, a calling, and a career known as professional journalism.” More»

(NEWSER) - Rumors of the New York Times’ demise are greatly exaggerated, reports... the New York Times. “Despite some published alarms to the contrary, the company has positioned itself to ride out another year of recession, maybe two,” Richard Péréz-Peña writes in a review of his employer’s finances. The Times hopes to "fill the void" left as other papers fold or cut back, a so-called last-man-standing strategy. More»

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»

Paper aims to firm up pay barrier before launch

(NEWSER) - The pay barrier for the New York Times' online content goes up on Monday and the newspaper is scrambling to make it more like a wall and less like a curtain full of holes. Users will be allowed 20 page views a month before the barrier comes down. But articles linked to from Twitter and Facebook can be viewed independent of the limit, leaving a huge loophole that the Times is now seeking to plug. More»