Fox Business has published another video interview with Rupert Murdoch in which he talks about, among other things, newspapers. He makes interesting comments about migration online. Check it out:
Reuters has several quotes from Rupert Murdoch including this about newspapers:
“Communications are changing totally and we’re moving into the digital age and it’s going to change newspapers. But if you’ve got a newspaper with a great name and a great reputation and you trust it, the people in that community are going to need access to your source of news. What we call newspapers today, I call ‘news organizations,’ journalistic enterprises, if you will. They’re the source of news. And people will reach it if it’s done well, whether they do it on a Blackberry or Kindle or a PC.”
“I can see the day maybe 20 years away where you don’t actually have paper and ink and printing presses. I think it will take a long time and I think it’s a generational thing that is happening. But there’s no doubt that younger people are not picking up the traditional newspapers.”
Some in News Limited here in Australia could learn from Murdoch’s direct answers on newspapers.
Newsagents need to watch this interview, and the previous one, and take on board the comments in the context of shopfits and newsagency business planning. The fundamentals of our businesses are changing. We need to embrace this change as the opportunity it is.
This means flexible shop fits, new traffic-generating product categories and embracing entrepreneurial spirit.