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Murdoch On Blocking Search Engines: “I Think We Will”

News Corp. CEO doesn't think much of "search people"

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By · November 19, 2009 · 152 Comments

There’s a chance that the content produced by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and a number of other important organizations will soon become impossible to find using Google.  Rupert Murdoch indicated in a recent interview that News Corp. may block search engines.

News Corp. is the world’s second largest media group.  It owns enough stuff that even hitting the highlights would take far too much time.  (Wikipedia has an 861-word entry titled "List of assets owned by News Corporation" if you’re feeling adventurous.)

Murdoch’s interview with Sky News editor David Speers could be of huge significance, then.  In it (the relevant part of the conversation starts around the 3:10 mark), Murdoch said, "We’d rather have fewer people coming to our website, but paying."  In reference to "search people," he next added, "They don’t suddenly become loyal readers of our content."

Finally, in response to a question regarding why News Corp. doesn’t just block search engines, Murdoch said, "Well, I think we will . . ."

But here’s the tricky part: Murdoch cited the Wall Street Journal’s current approach to pay walls and subscriptions as an example of what he’d like to implement on a larger scale, and it’s actually possible to access WSJ stories using Google.  It’s only when clicking around within the WSJ that you run into truncated articles.

So we – and a lot of industry decision-makers – will see what happens.  Whichever way Murdoch leans, he definitely has the power to start a trend.

UPDATE: Danny Sullivan has pointed out a sort of middle ground at which Murdoch might arrive: "Publishers can have Google News index the entire text of their articles but NOT show the full story to visitors who come from Google (for Google’s web search, that’s not an option – but you can provide summary pages).  They can also, if they choose, have only a small summary of their content indexed."

That would allow News Corp.’s properties to by and large stick to the WSJ model without sacrificing loads of search traffic and becoming less visible to potential ad-clickers and paying customers.  A smart compromise, perhaps.

As for when a change might go through, Jon Miller, News Corp.’s Chief Digital Officer, gave a rough deadline by talking about "months and quarters – not weeks" at a conference yesterday.  But according to Emma Barnett, he also indicated that News Corp. wouldn’t do anything drastic on its own, which may either be a polite way of contradicting Murdoch’s statements or a hint that the industry really is about to change. 

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There are 152 Comments. Add Yours.
  1. Guest
    Reply

    Great, Everybody line up and pay to get lied to and brainwashed from a narrow single point of view.

    • Rod
      Reply

      Sounds like you already have.

      • Paul
        Reply

        So Rod, are you on the CIA-payroll or something? Or are you simply so naive to believe all this propaganda coming from Murdoch and such?

  2. Guest
    Reply

    This idiot promoted Iraq war along with his cronies and always present with one sided news about Middle East. There is a total blackout about Palestine-Israel conflict in usa or he always sides with Israel. Plus daily propaganda for vaccination, corporate & walstreet profits.

    No wonder people are dropping the Murdoch news channels like fox which is dumping down America for long time and looking to foreign news channels like BBC and Internet.

    I can

    • Rod
      Reply

      If you see this person running naked down the street, just observe and report. Do NOT attempt contact, they could be hiding a weapon in one of their orifices!

    • travail
      Reply

      As if your own view of the U.S. in general isn’t blatantly reflected in your comments, you show an propensity for censorship that would make these guys look like an open air debate. From your far-eastern ‘accent,’ we can certainly understand, but not sympathize, that American news just doesn’t play what you want to hear.

      Thank goodness. We get enough of that garbage over the Internet.

      Most, but of course not all, Americans are smart enough to go to several sources before they develop an opinion. And they have the freedom to do that, unlike your own countrymen and women.

  3. He doesn’t even seem to even know whats going on. I wonder if he’s ever seen Google news? does he realize there’s only a sentence or two there? some times only a few words?

    He doesn’t even understand the whole blocking thing. All he has to do is ask not to be included in Google’s index or just have his web people stop feeding google news. does he even know that his people are trying to hget their stories in Google news because it makes them money?

    Blah!

  4. Guest
    Reply

    News Corp. CEO doesn’t think much of “search people”

    I got “news” for you Murdock. The feeling is mutual

    • Rod
      Reply

      That much is obvious from the looks of this forum.

  5. Well, the problem with this is that since sites actually buy the news feeds and get indexed by Google, the news will still show up, because it will be indexed by Google from the other site.

    What’s going to happen, is instead of their site getting the keyword benefits of the page, other sites will be able to using their content, even if it’s paid for. The only way around that is if anybody who purchases the feeds, agrees to block the bots as well, and trust me, if I paid for content, I sure as hell am not going to be told that I have to block the bots from indexing it.

  6. Rupert smells like poo
    Reply

    ugh… I’m so sick of old white people with money.

    F*CK YOU AND YOUR HORSESHIT “NEWS”, RUPERT.

    YES BLOCK SEARCH ENGINES. THEN THROW OUT YOUR COMPUTERS AND GET THE F*CK OFF THE INTERNET YOU OLD FART.

    • Rod
      Reply

      And that whole WRITING ALL IN CAPS thing just screams don’t it?

  7. Guest
    Reply

    “Nobody making serious money”

    Are you serious? I think its time to redistribute the wealth.

    Besides I want independent media not this monopoly crap where it’s all your opinion Mr. Murdoch.

    Foxnews is not fair and balanced.

    One more thing, Mr. Murdoch you are a bad greedy person that does not care about your fellow man and I hope you burn a long time for this!

    • Rod
      Reply

      As long as all of it is redistributed to my account! Cuz i’m a bad greedy person too! And the news coverage is pretty fair and balanced, just the commentators are not. I wish the same could be said for other so-called news broadcasts, or even for this here forum!

      • Guest
        Reply

        What’s your account number?

  8. Faux news suxs
    Reply

    This is awesome, I’m so sick of fox news showing up predominantly in google news searches. I’ve actually asked them to add a way to block bogus news sources like them from appearing on my google home page news section. I’ve had to resort to manually adding “site:-foxnews” to every section. Thanks rupert you old f-ck. Time for dinosaurs like you to do what dinosaurs did best, go away.

    • Rod
      Reply

      Yes, keep blocking out any point of view that differs from yours. Keep hating and cursing too, I think its helping your narrow cause. Oh…and ALL news sources are bogus, you have to discriminate with ALL of them. Faux news, Clinton News Network, LA & NY Slimes, PMSNBC, Crap Broadcasting System, Nonsense Broadcast Corp, Ahole Press, Bogus British Company, you name it cuz they ALL lie!

      • Guest
        Reply

        Which narrow cause?

  9. Guest
    Reply

    People in South America consider his news channels like Faux as bunch of idiots and bullies like Bill O’ Riley.Watch opinion of Hugo Chavez about Faux News.Very funny.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V3luj9gs1c

    • Rod
      Reply

      Of course they do! South America is full of socialist/communist/fascist dictators silly. They hate capitalism, liberty, ect. And only someone who agrees with them would be interested in Hugo’s opinion on anything. Where’s your Che shirt? Dont forget to march in lock-step now!

  11. Info good friends. Success dah always prevail. Thanks for this info is very useful for me and other bloggers.

  12. Valeria
    Reply

    I cannot know what the implicatons are, but if I were Google, I would immediately cut out the news coming from his newspapers (which is easiear than the other way round) so that he can assess, for free, what the advantages are.

  13. Murdoch can do what he likes, I don’t read his papers or news anyway, so for me it’s no big deal.

  14. But he has some valid points. It costs lots of money to run international news, and print it and air it any where but on the Internet.

    Many think they can find their news free on line with out the large news organizations. If you want your information from a blogger or mashable thats fine, but the USA needs not only a free press, but a financially stable free press.

    That said, I like Danny Sullivan thoughts. And I must say I wouldn’t shed one tear if Fox and Murdoch went away for ever never to be heard from again. They aren’t news, but his point is about the real issue of supporting real news media, and its to that community I
    am concerned about.

  15. I would love to see this moron fade into oblivion.

  16. Guest
    Reply

    … and unfortunately, there are more and more of them. The Guest above is certainly one of them. These people are educated by the liberal professors in US universities, liberal teachers in US schools, and liberal media. Without Fox news all the news would pray for our “messiah” every day, continue propaganda with infamous “HOPE” and “CHANGE”, and push the vaccination to the degree that people are staying in lines one the streets (!) to get one. There are not many media companies that oppose it.

    Murdock’s News corp is exactly opposite to what the fellow above said. Because this corporation is almost a monopoly in the US, it can support morons, paint white in black or opposite – everything is on their disposal. The media brought the term “political correctness” to our lives, and this is what will bring our country to the knees. It started with naming blacks Africans-Americans even if they have no clue where Africa is located. Political correctness did not allow people who saw radical muslins in Army to say openly about it. It is also one-sided story about Palestine-Israel conflict but with a favoritism to Palestinians. The fellow above obviously obsessed with hate to Israel (as many others). There are many roots to it and I don’t want to fall into lengthly description. Instead, I suggest to travel to Israel and see with own eyes who is who.

    The best way to understand people is to imagine being in their shoes. If you would remember the history and multiple attempts to destroy this country by Arabs, if the Hamas (or whoever’s) rockets would fly over your kids heads, if suicide bombers would blow up the clubs where your kids learn dancing, if you would feel the hate to Jews spread out on entire planet, then you would change your mind and stop this anti-Israel hysteria.

    I’ve been there to find out that the people there live the same lives we live here and they don’t want the war, don’t want to defend the country every day from their unfriendly neighbors, they just want to live happily, raise their kids, follow their religion, and help anyone around they can. This is a country that brought to this world more Nobel prise winners (for science, medicine, and and other arts) than other nations.

    If the fellow above is so pro-Palestinian. Answer honestly. What the Arab world brought useful for this planet beyond pumping and selling oil?

    • Guest
      Reply

      obama IS our messiah, and you’d better lay your hands off him.
      we already know what YOU people did to jesus

  17. Guest
    Reply

    Murdoch i thought he was dead, Or was that some other criminal fat c**t

    • Murdoch is a piece of trash
      Reply

      Maddoff when to prison , but they should take Murdoch with him. Two of the worst people in the world. I don’t know how this man can sleep at night knowing his news channel FOX lies each and every day to the american people. Well, most of them are republicans that watch it and would believe anything they say at fox.

  18. In short, that’s the best news I’ve heard in years from the Murdoch empire.

    The overall effect of being Murdochized seems to be straightforward dumbing down. If that’s what Murdoch wants to do, good luck to him. I guess he’s so all powerful in his own little world that he no longer has any balance to his own influence. Almost a certain recipe for ultimate disaster.

    Personally I feel sorry for the man. He must already have wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most of us, and still he’s grubbing around for every last penny he can squeeze out of his empire. What kind of a life is that?

  19. Guest
    Reply

    Rupert Murdoch doesn’t realize how irrelevant he has become!

  20. Guest
    Reply

    You leftist commie dogs would love to see Fox go–But the truth will expose the radical leftists in the MSM. You must be eliminated.

    • Guest
      Reply

      Whose truth?

    • leftist dog
      Reply

      you’re brain must be dried up to the size of a walnut.
      i’d like to see human/reptilian crud like murdok lined up at one of your death panels in front of the entire country.
      paranoid enough yet?
      if i have to type the entire contents of his papers into the internet myself, i will, just so walnut brains like yourself can have access.

    • Guest
      Reply

      Moron !! It’s Idiots like you that give the USA a bad name. You do the bidding of the corporate giants who use you and your kind to come out as teabaggers denouncing the only hope you have for survival.
      You will never be rich…just some dumb hick puppet of the Right wing .

    • Fox is NOT news anyway.
      Reply

      So you have a problem with fair minded news that listens to various points of view and is not hateful? I guess you watch fox because its a facist news channel with closed minded views on nearly every subject.

  21. Do you trust this man?
    No.
    I don’t either.
    He charges people to carry their PR and advertising and then renames it news and sells it to us.
    It’s an old model; whose time has come to an end.
    Long live the internet; long live true news.

  22. Lets compare fox to cnn… Cnn in my opinion is the most biased news channel out there .Almost as bad as some of our Canadian ones.Thus if fox is a little to the right ,this is needed to balance the
    extreme left of centre of CNN .
    In hindsight I wonder if Obama would have been elected without the cheer leaders at CNN ?

    http://www.straughan.ca
    London Ont Real Estate

    • FauxNewsSucks
      Reply

      That’s funny, ‘a little to the right’, more like COMPLETEL RIGHT WING channel, in the states here its known as the republican agenda channel.

  23. I’m no fan of News Corp. The emotional venting posted in these comments don’t speak much, either. Nothing said goes beyond singing to the choir.

  24. Lilia
    Reply

    I’d be happy if Rupert Murdoch didn’t show up in search engines any more. Maybe he could implement that on a real life scale as well and just disappear altogether.

  25. Guest
    Reply

    Pay per view ad revenue will decline. People seeking his perspective will settle for similar websites offering similar views. Imagine what would happen to Fox News ratings if it became a subscription service while CNN and MSNBC remain basic cable and satellite service. Raise the ad rates, don’t limit the number of readers.

  26. A few months ago Newsweek had a series of articles discussing the newspaper business and its viability or lack thereof in the digital age. There was one article that had what I thought was a quite interesting proposal:

    One way for newspapers to bring in the online revenue they need to keep operating (and continue being news reporters) would be to charge for the content in the articles. If it cost, say, a nickel or a dime to read beyond the first paragraph or so of a news story — I think people wouldn’t mind that too much. Plus it would have the effect of forcing writers to come up with compelling copy for the lead-in to a story (no one will read it if they make it sound dull).

    I think the technology exists now — perhaps with something akin to Paypal or some such site — so that this could be made very simple for people to do. Just set up an account somewhere and after that all you need do is click ‘yes’ when you get to a story you want to read.

    Generating good news reporting costs money — why shouldn’t the news organizations be compensated enough for doing so that they can continue?

  27. Yohon
    Reply

    I am a US citizen and I think the world will find out the US is not as free (pure as the driven snow) and the beacon of home that has been propagandized for a 100 years (hint Federal Reserve, free mason’s)… That is before the NEW internet FILTERS EVERYTHING.

    Is it any wonder we have an ILLEGAL president… I use to relish the idea that all the LIBERAL OOZE DOMINATED media could not stand Fox News. Seriously, Fox was out numbered a 1000 to1 against the perverted thinkers spewing their LIBERAL OOZE. Then it happened. Fox news went and interviewed Phil Berg (IN AUGUST BEFORE THE ELECTION: The 1st lawyer to sue Obama/Barry to release and prove his credentials http://www.obamacrimes.com) the interview never aired. Phil called Fox news and asked why his interview is not being aired? Fox news responded with; well after further review we think he is LEGIT… Phil said OK tell me how he’s legit I will forget about all this. Fox gave NO definitive answer. Instead they HELD back (not to publically investigate) information supplied from Phil Berg that may have kept Obama/Barry from being in the oval office. Obama/Barry sealed and has lawyers fighting NOT to release his entire basic background college records, birth certificate, etc. Why would someone seal their basic background??? Obama/Barry says he’s a Christian but how many times in any public speech have your heard him EVEN mention the word Jesus or Christianity vs. Muslim…

    Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tCAffMSWSzY#t=28

    • Guest
      Reply

      Ah, a perfect example of a right wing nut who listens to Fox News/Beck/Limbaugh and actually believes them. Obama’s birth certificate has been shown all over the place. How do you explain his birth announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers on the day he was born? Did the conspiracy go back that far? The Republican governor of Hawaii confirmed his US birth and even the right wing nut paper World news Daily confirmed it. But everything I’ve just said will go in one ear and out the other because some people just can’t stand the fact that we have a BLACK PRESIDENT LEGALLY ELECTED BY A MAJORITY OF THE VOTERS.

      • Guest
        Reply

        Well, actually, if you were to actually take the time to listen to Beck or Limbaugh neither of them question Obama’s place of birth and do not like the conspiracy. This is yet another example of a liberal making up garbage to make it fit their agenda. Oh wait, this is actually a conspiracy that YOU believe about conservatives.

        BTW, seeing that you are clearly a racist, the color of a person’s skin has nothing to do with anything. It amazes me that you guys cannot come up with any clear arguments so you just cry “race” or try to claim there is a “conspiracy”.

    • you should be locked up
      Reply

      Nutwings on the right like you, thinking America’s president is from another country and all the hate you spread are not true good Americans. You are trying to take down our country because its no longer a old right wing man in control of the country. Its a great day with out Mudoch and his faithful listeners and readers. Good riddens!

  28. Guest
    Reply

    I don’t read the Wall Street Journal because of the price of a subscription but if the left wing radical responders think it is biased toward patriotism I will start reading it, at least on line.

    Has any one noticed that google is not patriotic, if a company that makes millions using our capitalist system can

    • Guest
      Reply

      I think all of us “left wing radical responders” are just as patriotic as you right wing nuts. We just don’t blatantly buy the ridiculous lies and inane chatter coming from the likes of Glenn Beck and Fox News. You guys do.

      • GDI
        Reply

        My thoughts are this, there are liberals, there are moderates and there are conservatives. Generally, I am none of the above. I tend to look logically at what works and go with that. If you think about it, there should not be liberals, moderates and conservatives. To be only one thing implies an agenda. We all know that agendas can have good intentions, but produce terrible results. We should instead, approach problems from a logical and scientific point of view, define the problem, define the desired outcome and then look around the world for models that are working the best for a specific problem, with an unbiased approach. The problem is, less than 10% of the populace is numerically oriented in their thinking, they let feelings, emotions, and yes, agendas, get in the way of implementing actual good policy. For example, this country already spends over a trillion dollars annual on health related programs. If we really think about it, why do we provide Medicare to the upper middle class and millionaires? The logical answer is, we should not. The thought of Bill Gates and his wife getting Medicare when they turn 65 is illogical to me. And, why should we provide a national healthcare program to employed people who have health insurance? The logical answer is, we should not. Instead, we should focus on providing free healthcare to the poor, to the disabled, and to all veterans and to anyone out of a job and not currently covered. If you do that, you reduce the size of the problem down to about 35% of the population. People should not be liberal versus conservative, we should instead approach issues and problems logically and do what is logical, and also, if possible, what is shown to work elsewhere.

        • Intelligent post, but in my view, it just proves that even intelligent people can be hoodwinked. The entire debate over “health care” actually has nothing to do with health care, but with insurance. It is a scam to get more customers for the already rich and greedy health insurance companies and to obfuscate the real issue.

          Capitalism is great and it made this country great, but like anything else, it should not blindly be applied to everything. We don’t want police motivated by profits. We don’t want our firefighters to be profit motivated. Why would we want doctors to be motivated by profits?

          Universal health care is the right way to take care of our health issues. Doctors are not motivated today to prevent problems, but to treat them and to do tests.

          And yes, for the wealthy as well as the poor. My grandfather was wealthy, but lost everything due to heart problems and medical procedures.

          By the way, I also believe we should have free and universal education through university and med schools. Wouldn’t our country be much better off if our young people could all get as much education as they could absorb and not be mired in debt afterward?

          I think the extra taxes would be a good investment for the better country we would have and I’ll bet these things would cost much less than our perpetual wars.

          • Guest

            Refreshingly intelligent reply . . . America should be a LEADFER in caring for it’;s citizens health and education rather than exploiting the “freedom” of business to operate unchecked by “the People” that actually support the system they operate in.

            Universal Health and Education will guarantee a future leadership of innovation and prosperity.

        • You sound like Mr Spock from Startrack.. :)

      • Guest
        Reply

        Interesting post folks. Tell me just who will be paying for all these wonderful things, not I said the goat and not I said the pig. I have to ask, if the government takes away all you work for what is the point of working. One poster wants to look at things logically, lets do that. Lets include the 30 million people Stalin murdered during his reign, or the 30 to 100 million (no one will ever know) the Mau murdered in China, all in the name of everyone equally receiving free stuff. American Capitalism gives you the opportunity to make something for your posterity, if you are too damn lazy, or incompetent to do that it your fault. No one owes you an existence and the earth is only loaning you a place to live for a short time. Time to make something of yourself among mankind and quit sucking the lifeblood of every one else.

      • Guest
        Reply

        The US government only has money that has been taken from the labors of its citizens. When that money is squandered, the people that produce will eventually stop producing, after all what would be the point. That is what happened to Russia after 6-10 million farmers were executed and their land confiscated. Then all factories were taken by the state. Politicians were put in charge, and Russia spent 79 years destroying itself trying to keep up with the west. Long lines for bread, long line for milk when they could get it at all. Refrigerators built in Easy Germany were sold in the west for hard currency. My Mother-in-law was on a list for a refrigerator for over 4 years before she could get even a small apartment sized one, and people were told what they could have, there was no choices.

        Many of you from the cold-war era remember the Yugo and how we made fun of it, yet this was the best they could do. Too many Americans seem to want to live in that environment. The young, those with no experience with reality, the ones that know everything and will neither listen to their elders or seek knowledge from history, they are the most susceptible to this Marxist hype and stupidity.

        The three most stupid people in America, that I can point to are Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and George Soros, They have huge amounts of money yet they are too stupid to understand that when the Marxist take over everything they have will be confiscated. I was in Jugoslavia in 1975, on an island call Dugi Otok, where I met a retired longshoreman from New York. He told me his family owned the entire island before the communist confiscated everything except his families house, the very house he had gone back to after retiring. The point is the

      • Guest
        Reply

        So, did you spend 22 years in the military defending against communism just to have your country turn against you? Or did you spend 4 years with your nose up your Marxist professors butt.

  29. If you think Murdoch is the only media mogul who wants to start charging for the dissemination of their news, think again. Every newspaper in the U.S. would LOVE to charge the search engines for the right to index their articles.

    Personally, I think Murdoch is shooting himself in the foot but hey, he’s driving a different Rolls-Royce for every day of the week while on driving an 11-year-old van so there’s a good chance that he’s right and I’m wrong!

  30. Tony
    Reply

    That would be dumbing down, and it looks like you you have been watching because you seem to have lost your ability to spell.

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