Is There Any Business The Internet Hasn’t Got Hold Of - Part 1

It had to happen, online editions of newspapers had (and have) to start charging money, otherwise they will not be around in the future. If newspapers start going bust, how on earth are we going to have those useless England managers fired? How else would we be able to keep up to date with the happenings of Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and John Terry.

You have to applaud newspapers in many ways - for example, just look at how journalists outed former ministers recently. There is a sense of justice and prevail. At the moment the nationals still have the ability to influence us in a way that the Internet still cannot reach.

I actually applaud Rupert Murdoch and News International for this move; quite simply something had/has to be done to preserve the newspaper industry.

In reality, why would any of us expect to be able to read the entire content of a newspaper for gratis just because it happens to be on our computer? After all you are hardly likely to stand in your local newsagent and read the whole newspaper without eyebrows being raised or something being said.

Quality Journalism

Much as though I love the blogosphere, I am afraid it does not compensate for quality journalism and in my humble opinion the British newspaper industry does contain its fair share of quality journalists.  Yes there are journalists who wind people up, but there are many respected commentators who should continue to be at the forefront of delivering opinion. Obviously I could easily tap into a blog, but come on, it’s just not the same.

Give me News Now!

Much has been made of news aggregators such as NewsNow and even Google News. Most leading newspapers now stop themselves from having their content aggregated by these particular services.

If you work in the digital world of web design and SEO you would have to of been on the moon to not know that Google and Rupert Murdoch have been embroiled in a spat about ‘taking’ content for some time. This is certainly an aspect that I do not disagree with, but then if only a headline and snippet is being displayed surely it would be in the interests of a newspaper to draw visitors in and then look to have them subscribe to their unique content.