I’m sure I can’t be the only person who wishes that Rupert Murdoch would quit banging on and on about how he’s going to put up a paywall around his websites and block off google, and just friggen do it.
Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to bring another period of enlightenment to humanity than to have Rupert’s gaggle of conservative and sensationalist rags locked up where no-one will see them.
I can’t see how it’s going to work, though. Newspapers have never made their profits from their cover price (which pretty much only covers the cost of distribution). Instead, it’s been the advertising they carry – particularly the classifieds – that pays for the journalism (I use that word loosely here). So if Rupert is planning to recover the money lost to sites like Ebay and Seek by charging internet readers, then the price is going to have to be considerably higher than what they’re asking for the dead-tree editions right now. Is anyone really going to pay through the nose for the Herald-Sun when the ABC’s news is free online?