

Why News Won't Work Like Murdoch Want's It To - andrewbaron
http://dembot.com/post/281901981/why-news-wont-work-like-murdoch-wants-it-to

======
StrawberryFrog
Apostrophes don't work like title's author thinks they do. Should I read them
any further on the subject of, you know, writing about news?

~~~
jacquesm
It doesn't stop at the apostrophes, unfortunately:

"There is a great deal of information worth paying for, but for the most part,
it’s hard to understand why anyone would be incentivized to pay for the news
for news is as free as the freedom of speech."

There seems to be some misunderstanding about the meaning of the word 'free'
in those two vastly different contexts.

The fact that others are reporting the same news is no reason to draw this
parallel, after all that says nothing about the quality, the convenience and
the timing of the reporting.

Things like the google phone are much more suitable to blog style reporting
than say investigating a political scandal, on-site reporting and analysis.
That's where you can create real value as a newspaper, fluff articles about
gadgets not so much, the barrier to entry is way too low. Especially if those
articles are speculative in nature.

~~~
StrawberryFrog
* hard to understand why anyone would be incentivized *

Ug. Needs a re-write in simple English. What it's trying to say probably isn't
that complex, but it's very badly put.

------
russell
A variation on a theme (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=992927>). This
one says that the WSJ is getting it wrong because you have to subscribe to
read the story because the story or equivalent is widely available. Baron is
right in the global sense, but wrong in the specific. The NYT cant force you
to subscribe, because, except for some of their columnists, their content is
available everywhere. They even syndicate it themselves. The WSJ is actually a
counter example to Baron's point. The WSJ actually makes money on their web
site. People actually subscribe because of the WSJ's reputation for its
business reporting.

OTOH if a publication doesnt have the reputation and immediate need to know
content of the WSJ, a walled garden will ensure its demise. Other publications
that could (and do) survive on a subscription basis: Physician Desk Reference
(even tough all its information is publicly available), Lexus, Nexus, and
Bloomberg.

