Murdoch’s views on news

First, media companies need to give people the news they want. I can’t tell you how many papers I have visited where they have a wall of journalism prizes—and a rapidly declining circulation. This tells me the editors are producing news for themselves—instead of news that is relevant to their customers. A news organization’s most important asset is the trust it has with its readers, a bond that reflects the readers’ confidence that editors are looking out for their needs and interests.

Journalism according to Rupert Murdoch. This reflects the damage corporatism and the constant drive to maximise profits has done to the journalism it sells. Sure, make your news interesting and relevant. But Murdoch’s view here is perverse in the sense that it shows his ‘if it sells then it’s news’ kind of attitude. He wants to make money, not change the world, challenge power and promote democracy. And that attitude in journalism is totally wrong. In the same article he says:

From the beginning, newspapers have prospered for one reason: the trust that comes from representing their readers’ interests and giving them the news that’s important to them.

But how can a readership trust an organisation so hell-bent on turning over huge profits? An organisation that sacrifices journalists for the sake of increasing profit margins. An organisation that produces the ghastly, vile and dangerous polemic-fuelled Fox News. Why let truth, honesty and importance get in the way of ratings and circulation, eh?

Why does the future of news and journalism have to be so corporate-centric? Commercial vested interests of the corporate press are an affront to journalism.