Murdoch on the future of newspapers

US: Wall Street Journal to launch new website Tuesday

The Wall Street Journal is set to launch their new website on Tuesday morning according to the New York Times.

The new website is similar to the old one, however, it will have a new look with less ads and no more navigation buttons on the left side of the homepage.  

Non-subscribers will still not have access to most of The Journal's business news articles.  However, subscribers will now be able to comment on every story by creating their own personal profiles.  

Executive editor for online news at the WSJ, Alan Murray, expects this new system to be "very powerful." Plans to eventually allow non-subscribers to create accounts is also in the works, as long as their identities can be verified before they create an account.

If successful, the WSJ.com could become a hub for business conversation.  On the downside, it risks becoming too exclusive to lure new readers.

US: Murdoch on the future of newspapers

Posted by Lauren Drablier on September 15, 2008 at 12:08 PM

Rupert Murdoch, who was recently nominated as one of Esquire's 75 most influential people, has lifted the lid on his views about the newspaper industry and future of newspapers in an interview with the magazine.

The future of newspapers

"I don't know the future. Is knowledge in this world going to be more valuable, more important than it has ever been? Absolutely. We're clearly going through a period of real change, where the business models of the old newspapers are challenged. That will be even more so in the future. If you look at the readership of newspapers -- both the age of their readership and the numbers -- it's worrying. But if you then look at the number of people who go to the Internet, it's tremendous."

"You have to have a brand that is totally trusted. Now, there are a huge number of people in this country who don't trust The New York Times. There are a huge number that trust The Wall Street Journal and have, in varying degrees, loyalties to their local newspapers. They enjoy them, or they find that it's useful information. They go on the Web and use it. That's the job of a newspaper, to be able to keep people, to stay with them, and to make them satisfied with what they get from one place as much as possible. That's the challenge."

"All I know is that the innovations that are going to affect us, whatever they are, are going to come at us faster than ever."

"I love competition. And I want to win."...