Craving respectablity is the end for journalists

I have been getting some good leads from Steve Boriss' excellent Future of News blog.

This one led me to an interview with Rupert Murdoch in Time magazine which gives hints of maybe the future direction of News Corp.

The Media Mogul is currently emroiled in a take over battle for the Wall Street Journal which as the magazine says:

" the notion of this tabloid terror controlling the
world's leading business journal is being met with ferocious opposition in many
quarters of the American media. Some of the opposition is principled, some of it
is sanctimonious, and some of it seems driven by a tangle of ideological and
commercial motives. Each day brings another investigative story about Murdoch
using his media properties to boost his business interests, reward his friends
and punish his rivals, and each story carries the message that this man will
destroy the Journal by using its hugely respected news pages as his personal
fief.

Steve suggests that

"Rupert Murdoch’s entire schtick may be about returning
to the market segmentation practices of newspapers of the 19th century. Back
then, there were political newspapers for readers who particularly enjoyed
politics, and mercantile papers for the more business-minded. At various times,
there were separate papers for Democrats, Republicans, Whigs, and Federalists.
For the downscale, there was the “Penny Press” (literally 1¢ at newsstands)
filled with stories focusing on crime, sex, human interest, and resentment of
the rich. For the “respectable public,” there was less titillating news of
business and government."

Maybe this is one of his plans

"

What if, at the Journal, we spent $100 million a year
hiring all the best business journalists in the world? Say 200 of them. And
spent some money on establishing the brand but went global — a great, great
newspaper with big, iconic names, outstanding writers, reporters, experts. And
then you make it free, online only. No printing plants, no paper, no trucks. How
long would it take for the advertising to come? It would be successful, it would
work and you'd make ... a little bit of money. Then again, the Journal and the
Times make very little money now."

And Murdoch himself gives a reflection on journalists

"

craving respectability is the beginning of the end for a
journalist. "They should think of themselves as outside the Establishment, and
owners can't be too worried about what they're told at their country
clubs,"