Murdoch is Messing Up Big Time
As I am sure a lot of you may have already heard, Rupert Murdoch, who I have said in the past needs to retire, plans to start charging for news content on his websites. Murdoch, the genius who also bough MySpace on it’s way down the tubes, and also made comments saying that the Internet would soon go away, is the CEO of NewsCorp. Fox News is probably one of Murdoch’s best known properties.
It’s going to be real interesting to see how he plans to roll this plan out, although I don’t think he’s going to see a lot of success. A while back The Wall Street Journal started charging for their online content, and for the most part it’s been successful, but when you look at the big picture you realize that they don’t really have a lot of competition, so all in all that content model might work on a subscription basis.
In the much broader News business, there are tons of companies out there, and a few that even do it better than Murdoch’s companies, so I see this as being an epic failure before it happens. Sorry for being so negative but I am just calling it like I see it.
In case you missed out on Murdoch’s plans, here’s a snippet from a recent USA Today article:
News Corp, which owns the London Times and Sun newspapers in Britain and the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal in the U.S., among many other papers, will soon begin charging for news content online, the BBC reports.
“We intend to charge for all our news websites," said chief executive Rupert Murdoch. "I believe that if we are successful, we will be followed by other media”.
To keep readers from simply shifting to free news websites, Murdoch said News Corp would simply make its content "better and differentiate it from other people," the BBC reports. Murdoch said he was "satisfied" that the company could produce "significant revenues from the sale of digital delivery of newspaper content."
"Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting," he said, the BBC reports.
The bottom line, people aren’t going to pay for news online, it’s just not going to work. They will simply go elsewhere. He should focus his efforts toward monetizing his content instead. I think that most people who have been in this industry for a while would agree with me 100% on this…
Murdoch to charge for online news content – On Deadline – USATODAY.com
Users Trusted LA Times Over TMZ
I posted a personal rant the other day about how TMZ broke the news about Michael Jackson’s death way before a lot of the network news outlets did. One of my blog readers Simon Owens sent me a note that I found interesting today on Facebook, here’s an excerpt from his blog post:
TMZ has received a fair amount of coverage over the last few days for being first to break the news of Michael Jackson’s death, beating both the LA Times and CNN (which waited until the LA Times confirmed the death to report on it). But as a blog post in the LA Times pointed out today, sometimes it’s more important to confirm a fact than be the first to report it.
I will be the first to admit that there is something to be said about credibility and caution when it comes to journalism and reporting. The thing that I have learned about getting my news via the web or social media (Twitter and Facebook) is that you have to first consider the source. In the case of Twitter, you can just ask Jeff Goldblum or Britney Spears, who were recently rumored to have died, you have to consider the source. Before retweeting or sharing anything I hear on Twitter with my friends or co-workers I always run it through Google News to see if there are any other headlines out there from credible sources to substantiate the story. Usually traditional media will pick up the stories and report them within an hour or so if there is any truth to them, if not I dismiss the story as rumor.
I guess the point that I am trying to make is that I basically get my news from a variety of sources online but usually the first source for breaking news for me is via Twitter, but before it actually becomes factual news in my mind that I am willing to share, I have to also see it being reported by another credible news outlet.
Here’s an excerpt from the LA Times that Simon pointed out on his blog that brings up a good point:
Has technology’s ability to deliver information at such a rapid pace corrupted us? It’s one thing to marvel at how social media sites have helped spread Iranian news we might not have attained due to censorship — and with such timeliness; it’s quite another to have become a culture that prizes speed over confirmed facts.
Network News Needs an Enema!
This past Thursday was a huge news day, we started the morning with more details coming in from the mysterious runaway governor scandal and there were even had a few fresh glimpses into what’s going on in Iran too. A short while later we learned that Farrah Fawcett had passed away…
Just when we were all able to get the image of Farrah’s famous poster from the 70’s out of our heads and finally return to work we started seeing reports that Michael Jackson was dead on Twitter. Knowing what I know about social media, I knew not to buy into the story that he was dead just because I saw it on Twitter, but after about an hour or so I noticed the volume of traffic on Twitter and Facebook spike dramatically and there was no one questioning the legitimacy of the story. Usually when a rumor breaks on the social networks, if it’s not true, it’s squashed or tagged “FAKE” pretty quickly, and I didn’t see anyone disputing the news.
I quickly flipped over to CNN to see what they were reporting, they said that he had been rushed to the hospital, flipped over to Fox, same thing. I pulled up my favorite tabloid website TMZ and I was shocked to see that they were also reporting his death. I just assumed that if TMZ and Twitter were both reporting his death that CNN and Fox were soon to follow so I watched for a little while and what I witnessed amazed me…
Both networks, obviously trying to adhere to some code of responsible journalism or something like that, didn’t confirm his death until an hour or two later. I wasn’t the only one that noticed this either, several people on Twitter mentioned that it looked like CNN and Fox were doing everything they could to keep from saying that he was dead. Now before you get the wrong idea, I understand the responsibilities that a news agency has to adhere to, and I understand responsible journalism and accurate reporting, I get it. As I sat there and witnessed Harvey Levin’s brainchild, TMZ, beat two of the most powerful news networks in the world to the scoop on possibly the biggest news story of the year by a couple of hours I realized something…
If Network News doesn’t learn to incorporate social media into their reporting a lot better, people are going to stop looking to them first. A simple disclaimer like, “this is unsubstantiated, but according to the social networks, Michael Jackson has died”, and I honestly thing that could have helped them save face. I know that CNN has done a great job embracing social media, but it blows my mind how they danced around announcing that he was dead. Fox News is a distant second in embracing social media, in my opinion, but I honestly thought CNN missed an opportunity to shine on this one. Eventually CNN did mention that some other news outlets were reporting that he was dead, but they could have just checked Twitter two hours earlier and reported, “okay, half the world is on Twitter right now reporting Michael Jackson is dead” and saved face…
More on Kelso –vs- CNN
Biz Stone and the folks at Twitter have got to be loving this challenge between Ashton Kutcher and CNN going on right now to see who can be the first ones to reach 1 million followers. I have gotten my breaking news for a long time now from @breakingnewson and the many @cnn twitter accounts, and yes they do seem to preceed the live television break-ins by a few minutes in most cases.
Like it or not but Twitter seems to be where people are going these days to get their news anymore. A lot of National and State news agencies are using Twitter now, following the lead of CNN social media pioneers like Rick Sanchez.
Even Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report had Biz Stone on his show one night to talk about the rapid rise of popularity that Twitter has seen since it’s launch. This thing between Ashton Kutcher and CNN is only adding fuel to the fire for Twitter…
(CNN) — The online popularity contest between celebrity Ashton Kutcher and CNN narrowed Thursday, with Kutcher’s Twitter following growing considerably overnight.
Kutcher, who challenged CNN to be the first to 1 million followers on the micro-blogging site, had more than 949,000 Twitter followers as of 11 a.m. ET Thursday. CNN’s breaking-news feed had about 15,000 more Twitter fans, with some 964,000.
Kutcher’s account now has a larger following than Britney Spears, who on Wednesday was the second-most-popular person on Twitter, behind CNN.
No single Twitter account ever has reached 1 million followers, according to two Web sites that track popularity on Twitter, a site where users post 140-character messages that are distributed to groups of followers.
Some online writers told CNN the contest is symbolic of the state of Twitter, which gained media attention because of its applications for news organizations but is starting to be dominated by strong personalities with cult followings.
The actor challenged CNN to the race with a Web video posted on Tuesday. If he wins, Kutcher says he will "ding-dong ditch" CNN founder Ted Turner’s house.
"I found it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter," Kutcher says in a video, which was shot from inside a car and was posted on Qik.com.
Don’t Miss
- CNN Breaking News on Twitter
- Ashton Kutcher on Twitter
- YouTube: Larry King accepts the challenge
- Video: King responds to Kutcher on "Larry King Live"
- Video: CNN’s Rick Sanchez on the popularity contest
"So I just thought that was just kind of an amazing comment on the state of our media, and I said that, if I beat CNN to 1 million viewers, then I would ding-dong ditch Ted Turner — because I don’t think it’s gonna happen."
Watch video of Kutcher’s challenge »
CNN maintains 45 official Twitter accounts, with a total of more than 1.3 million followers. Kutcher is racing the network’s breaking-news feed specifically.
CNN’s breaking-news feed on Twitter was launched three years ago by James Cox, a British web developer, as a way to get CNN news alerts on his mobile phone, said CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin.
In a development unrelated to Kutcher’s challenge, CNN acquired the rights to the Twitter account from Cox this week, said Martin, who would not disclose terms of the deal.
"We’ve been working closely with [Cox] for the past two years," Martin said. "It’s a good example of how a large media company can partner with its audience in innovative ways."
An information technology consultant in Croatia who is interested in the outcome of the contest has been tracking the rate of new followers for CNN and Kutcher. Marin Purgar says Kutcher will beat CNN to the 1 million follower mark before 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
CNN will hit the 1 million mark by 1 p.m. ET on Friday, based on Purgar’s projection, which assumes the rate of new followers for the past 20 minutes will continue, he said by phone Wednesday. Purgar said he will continue to post updates to the data on his Twitter account.
Kutcher has been posting like mad to his account since challenging CNN to the battle. The celebrity — known for the TV shows "Punk’d" and "That ’70s Show," as well as for being married to actress Demi Moore — has offered to give his millionth follower a copy of the video game "Guitar Hero."
He also says on Twitter he will donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day in late April if he beats CNN, and 1,000 if he loses. CNN has agreed to do the same, Martin said.
Late Wednesday night, Kutcher said he feels like he needs to start preparing a speech for the moment he reaches 1 million followers. He joked that he would pull inspiration from Dr. Evil speeches in the "Austin Powers" movies.
CNN hosts Larry King and Rick Sanchez responded Tuesday to the Twitter race on CNN television. Watch Larry King’s response
In a video message that aired on CNN’s "Larry King Live," the talk show host grinned as he accepted Kutcher’s challenge.
King also teased Kutcher about his threat to ring Ted Turner’s doorbell and then run away, noting that Turner formerly ran CNN and is not directly associated with the network today.
Kutcher responded to the video on his Twitter account with this post: "ok larry king is now one of my new favorite people and this means war lets go tweeps."
King has invited Kutcher to appear on his show, "Larry King Live." Kutcher, saying "this is a saga for the Internet," asked King to come on his "twit show" to settle things.
The battle has gained much attention on Twitter, with fans pulling for both sides.
Some online writers on Wednesday said the goofy race may be a real symbol of what’s to come for Twitter.
MG Siegler, a writer for TechCrunch, a technology news site, said Twitter has gained popularity largely through breaking news feeds.
If Kutcher wins the race with CNN, Siegler said, it may indicate a symbolic shift toward personalities dominating the site. iReport.com: Twitter, Facebook growing pains?
"When Twitter started out, it seemed like its most practical usage would be doing stuff like breaking news," Siegler said by phone. "There was all the earthquake news, all the fire news … that made it pretty interesting to a lot of people. But now, obviously, Twitter’s gone to the whole next level with all the news coverage and all the celebrities who are starting to use it."
Kutcher may seek popularity, but he seems genuinely interested in interacting with his followers, which is a key to success on the site, Siegler said.
The battle highlights another Twitter trend: celebrities using their accounts to pump up charities and causes, not just their own fame. Kutcher may help charities fight malaria if he beats CNN, and actor Hugh Jackman posted this note on his Twitter account Tuesday, indicating he will donate $100,000 to a fan’s favorite charity:
"I will donate 100K to one individual’s favorite non profit organization. Of course, you must convince me why by using 140 characters or less."
So far, Jackman has received Twitter responses from people interested in combating poverty, water shortages and anti-gay discrimination, among other causes.
Twitter race between Ashton Kutcher and CNN narrows – CNN.com
CNN Acquires Twitter Account (@cnnbrk)
Now this is very interesting, apparently the @cnnbrk twitter account doesn’t actually belong to CNN, or didn’t originally. Some guy named James Cox actually owned the account. CNN has now acquired the account from Mr. Cox for no tellings how much money. We all know that they are doing this to turn up the heat on Ashton Kutcher.
I have no idea if Fox News has a Twitter Account? Anyone out there know?? They were closing in on CNN for a long time but CNN is so far ahead of the curve in my opinion, I mean come on, Holograms…
Hard to believe, but the CNN Twitter account racing Ashton Kutcher to 1 million subscribers wasn’t even under CNN’s (TWX) control until recently.
CNN confirms that it has has taken control of the @cnnbrk
account — and its 944,000 followers.
This is no-brainer for CNN, and we hope they paid previous owner James Cox a lot of money for the account he’s nurtured. By adding more stories to the feed — and links to CNN’s site — CNN.com could generate hundreds of thousands of extra pageviews per day.
Whoever is control of the account has been tinkering with it in the last hour or so, adding five CNN-owned or CNN reporter accounts to the ones it’s following
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but a recent tweet on Cox’s account
CNN Acquires CNNbrk Twitter Account With Nearly 1 Million Followers
My 2 Favorite News Portals
I was talking to a friend today about how political the cable news networks have become as of late (this is a another blog post that I will probably just keep to myself). I was telling him how I used to keep the television in my office on CNN all day long up until about a month or so ago.
I now have my office television tuned to Bloomberg Financial News so I can see what the markets are doing during throughout day. Since starting my CNN boycott, I figure that I have probably fallen into alignment with the vast majority of Americans today that gets about 90% of their news from the web, and I think that it’s helping me become a little more efficient.
However, by getting my news online I have ran into a slight issue. Being a web developer by trade I immediately pick up on design and usability flaws on just about every news website I go to and it drives me a little bit. I have only found a few dedicated News portals that I will actually go out to visit, most news sources I just get RSS feeds into my reader, but there are a few that I will actually go out and visit.
One of these news portals is CNN, even though their broadcast assignment priorities are out of whack they still have one of the best websites on the web. I usually hit cnn.com in the mornings while I am waiting on my email to download.
For statewide and local news I absolutely love the newly redesigned KTHV website. Not only is it very user-friendly but I have discovered over the past few days that it’s also very interactive. The web team at KTHV did a great job incorporating web 2.0 social networking and interaction into their redesign and it has surprised me how people from around the state are really starting to embrace it.
For example, late last night I posted some comments on a news story about rising gas prices and price gouging. This was about 10:30 or so while I was watching hurricane updates before bed, and it was only a few minutes before someone had posted a response. That kind of interaction on a news website is unheard of in my opinion, especially in this market…
A few of the other Little Rock stations have also made strides toward social networking and interaction on their websites but I don’t see any of them catching up to KTHV anytime soon. I spent some time today inside my user profile on KTHV’s website and I was very impressed with all of the functionality they have built in. As a developer I can appreciate all of these modules more than the average user.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out todaysthv.com, while you are there be sure to stop by and check out my todaysthv.com blog…
