Predictions are already being made about the potential of Rupert Murdoch’s reported plans to produce a national newspaper available only on the iPad, as we discussed last month.
Over on Tech Crunch Paul Carr doesn’t mince his words, insisting that the concept is “doomed”. It is not about marketing the value of the contents but a simply money-making exercise he says, which is not a long term solution.
Of course the idea is doomed – that much should go without saying. Like so many of Murdoch’s recent forays into paid-for online news, it reflects less a bold strategy to convince a new generation of readers that good journalism is worth paying for and more the 79-year News Corp proprietor’s desperation to keep the cash flow coming until the company’s profitability becomes someone else’s problem.
But what’s remarkable about this current escapade is that Murdoch is actually proposing to sell a product that people have previously failed to even give away for free.
The LA Times, who also ran an editorial on the plans this weekend, added that News Corp is just another news organisation “scrambling to prop up their bottom lines with new sources of revenue”.
The initiative, which would directly compete with the New York Times, USA Today and other national publications, is the latest attempt by a major media organization to harness sexy new devices to reach readers who increasingly consume their news on the go. The development underscores how the iPad is transforming the reading habits of consumers much like the iPod changed how people listen to music.
Paul Carr, never afraid to stir things up a little, is sounding the death knell for London internet start-ups in a piece for Guardian Tech.
(Incidentally, it looks like the last time he’ll provoke us via Guardian.co.uk – this morning Carr announced on Twitter that the site had ‘slashed its freelance budget’: “Result – no more column from me. Thought about writing it for free, but meh.”)
” I’ll be discreet with names so as not to make things worse but since I’ve been back in town, I’ve met no fewer than three once-successful entrepreneurs who admit they’re running out of money at a sickening rate (personally and professionally) with no prospect of raising more. I’ve seen two businesses close and one having its funding yanked suddenly because, basically, it was going nowhere fast. Everyone I speak to has the same story: investors aren’t investing, revenues aren’t coming, founders are being forced out – or leaving of their own accord – and no one seems to have the first idea what to do about it.”
Well, we could have brought you ‘Flocking Around the Twitmas Tree’, ‘We Three Nings’ or just a straightforward end of the year list (if only to add to our list of lists), but instead we chose this: your sing-along treat to round-up 2008 is the ‘Twelve Days of Online Media Christmas’ (hyperlinked to relevant stories, but bear in mind it’s a selection of picks and not comprehensive…).
On the first day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … An editor in a law court
… Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the ninth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Nine strikers strikin’
… Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the tenth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Ten blogs a-blooming
… Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the eleventh day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Eleven papers packing
… Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the twelfth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Twelve sites a-starting
… Eleven papers packing, Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks and an editor in a law court!
“I can’t find any celebrities, or any breaking news, just endless prattle from people with too much time and too little imagination. After two hours, I log out, and I won’t be back.” The Evening Standard’s Nick Curtis describing his ‘trial’ of Twitter.
@paulcarr does a brilliant job over at Guardian.co.uk, complete with drunken Laguna Beach and toga-wearing anecdotes (not sure how he worked those in), so Journalism.co.uk won’t re-tell the whole story here.
In short: @nickcurtis, film critic at the Evening Standard tried out Twitter for all of two hours. Yes, two hours, before dismissing the whole entire thing. Nick, please listen to Paul. You need to try it out for a bit longer than that to see how it all works and bear with it. For a start, you might need to actually follow some people (at time of writing – followers: 0).
Journalism.co.uk and aficionado of Twitter (@journalismnews / @journalism_live / @lauraoliver / @jtownend) wonders if Curtis would review a film by just watching an equivalent fraction (about 1/8 of its trailer at most).
@Chrisgreen sums it up nicely: @nickcurtis – ‘Just read your article on Twitter. Your lack of research & sloppy conclusions are an embarrassment to journalism & the Standard’.
But then, it looks like Curtis won’t be logging back in to read the reactions.
