Commentary

Media Executive Suggests Unlikely TV Opportunity: Start A News Program

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 5, 2010

For all those electronic and non-electronic journalism watchers, there comes good news from one media executive, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch.

On Fox Business' "Cavuto" on Tuesday, Murdoch said: "There has never been such demand for journalism as there is today."

More TV news networks? More print news publications? Murdoch didn't say. But as we know, Fox News Channel is still up in ratings as well as operating income (the latter by 31%), posting its best results ever. Murdoch also said The Wall Street Journal's advertising revenue rose 25% -- when all other national newspapers' ad efforts have been down.

Murdoch didn't say what kind of journalism was in such demand, or whether it had a right-wing or left-wing bent. He said journalism.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum -- such as the much smaller Current Media, home of the Current cable TV news channel from ex-Vice President Al Gore, where plenty of user-generated video and independent journalist voices exist -- you get the sense he is right. Current is also doing well. And maybe it has nothing to do with politics.

News and information will continue to be valuable, perhaps more so in an ever-complicated digital world full of increasing journalist road furniture, where one can trip up. We speak of opinion makers, ranters, bloggers, and TV yappers.

Murdoch is possibly looking to start charging for the Wall Street Journal online, which hopefully won't cut off all those big advertising results. He says Dow Jones digital revenues now stand at $100 million.

We all know TV news isn't just the early evening network newscast; it's local TV, local digital TV and other areas. In one of the newer trends, many TV stations are looking to add to their existing schedules with more news programming, perhaps as a way to better control their own production/license fee/acquisition costs, as well as garnering more local inventory.

Things are looking up for the media -- and it comes where we least expect it. Or so we are told.

journalism, tv

2 comments about "Media Executive Suggests Unlikely TV Opportunity: Start A News Program".

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Michael Kaplan from Blue Sky Creative, May 5, 2010 at 3:06 p.m.
It's important to parse out what Murdoch says, and what you THINK he's saying.
There's news. There's opinion. There's infotainment. And there's the partisan political operation that is Fox News. Who knows what Murdoch is really referring to.
No one (with the exception of "60 Minutes" and perhaps "Dateline NBC," and that's more feature stories than anything else) has ever made money with real news. CNN and MSNBC have been moving away from news coverage towards opinion and infotainment.
I, for one, would love actual news programming. But would anyone watch? They haven't so far, why start now?
Reply

Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, May 5, 2010 at 3:52 p.m.

Things are looking up for the media when you start to see investors running up the price of media stocks. Otherwise, it's so much talk.

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