It's been amazing to see all the companies that claimed they were so concerned about Rupert Murdoch and his interference in the editorial integrity of the properties of Dow Jones & Co. (DJ) - especially the Wall Street Journal - when he made the offer to buy them.
The major changes by his competitors in a number of fields has revealed the hoax of that concern, as they make all sorts of moves to combat the upcoming transfer of the company to News Corp. (NWS-A).
One example is the New York Times (NYT), who decided to no longer charge a subscription price for their online site, thinking the Wall Street Journal will do the same. When Murdoch talked about the print and online Wall Street Journal, he said he would start to include a larger news section, with a lot more international news, a direct challenge to the "Times."
The Financial Times, based in Britain, also announced recently that they would allow visitors to visit the site and read 5 articles for free. If they registered with the site, they could then read an additional 25 articles during the month, to total 30. It's an action that allows them to move quickly if Murdoch decides to drop the subscription model on the online "Journal" site.
When Murdoch also announced they would go more mainstream with their upcoming Fox Business Network, CNBC (GE) reacted by acting more American-friendly and focusing on simplifying their language, which Murdoch said only served the elite in business and not the regular person.
They're also trying to promote Donny Deutsch more, as he represents the only thing regular people can relate to on the channel.
The point is he is controlling all this without any of it being brought into action yet. Just by mentioning something, Murdoch's competitors start a flurry of changes without really knowing if it's misinformation or not.
All of this is good for consumers and business. Business competition is one of the most powerful assets society has going for it. Seeing these changes that are already more consumer-friendly, makes the other businesses better before News Corp. even launches their initiatives.
We'll start to see a more honest and balanced business media landscape simply by the increasing involvement of News Corp. in the sector. That's better for all of us.
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FYI, Dow Jones is AGGRESSIVELY discounting the WSJ online + print subscriptions in wake of the NY Times announcements for unleashing their content to the public for free. You can now get BOTH the paper version delivered + a WSJ.com online subscription for only $125/year. And some promos they're running online give 2 extra months too. That's called HEAVY discounting. I'm sure they're banking on a high retention rate. example: http://1.wallstreetjournaI.googlepages.com
Posted by: newsjunkie | October 5, 2007 11:49 AM | Permalink to Comment