Rupert Murdoch: No To ‘Gloom & Doom’
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s, and his family’s, adventures and victories in the field of journalism have won him admirers and critics. His detractors claim that he has trashed serious/traditional journalism. But journalism is neither static, nor a charitable activity. It has become a highly competitive business.
It would be unfair to single out media owners for blame. The editors too must be held accountable for the present mess. Murdoch recently “tore into the ‘doom and gloomers’ predicting the demise of newspapers, but admitted this involved ‘moving beyond dead trees’,” reports The Independent.
“This comes at a time when media groups have come under severe pressure, closing titles and slashing jobs, in the wake of the global credit crunch.
“Mr Murdoch, whose global media empire owns titles including The Wall Street Journal as well as The Times and The Sun, conceded that it was a ‘challenging’ time for the sector, as traditional sources of revenue dry up and competition increases.
“Mr Murdoch issued a rallying cry to the industry, saying: ‘I believe that newspapers will reach new heights. In the 21st century, people are hungrier for information than ever before. And they have more sources of information than ever before’. As readers become swamped by the fierce competition, they ‘want what they’ve always wanted: a source they can trust. This has always been the role of great newspapers in the past.”
Murdock took a potshot at the editors when he said that the future of newspapers “has a relevance far beyond the feverish, sometimes insecure collections of egos and energy that is the journalistic profession”. More here…
I have always believed that real/best journalism thrives only when there is intrinsic trust between the media owners and the journalists. The ego/power struggle between the two has created a sort of crisis.
Editors need to be sensitive to the needs of the owners without sacrificing basic journalistic values. And the media owners should stop treating their editors as mere domestic help or handmaidens. Apart from trust the two must also respect the other’s professional status/needs.
An AP file photograph of the legendary media baron Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.
