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February 21, 2010
Bad ideas are the norm in the mainstream media that has embraced info-entertainment and tabloid excess so they can sell more product. The bottom line is what matters not culture. In an industry buckling under the twin pressures of the credit crunch and the growth of digital rivals what matters is the sales impact of a story.
Some say that paywalls are a bad idea. For major publishers, paywalls represent a desperate floundering in the face of death. Advertising is still what makes money for news, even when there's a cover charge. The bad idea is the rule of the market in which the ABC should have no special place coupled with a special pleading about making market domination easier for Foxtel and News Ltd.
The really bad idea is that we consumers pay Foxtel twice for everything, once through a monthly subscription for limited choice of packaged programmes and once by sitting through the adverts.
Of course, for the Murdochs, that is a really good idea as it means more money for them for less product. What they also want is less regulation of Foxtel and less public subsidies for free-to-air television.
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The third kid did it. I don't think he looks genuinely concerned and he's standing up too straight.
But seriously the media must adapt to its surroundings as all business does and try to grab larger market share.
Lately I like to watch news broadcasts on my mobile phone. This is something that I would of scoffed at a few years ago. My media tastes have changed and the media has changed too.