Rupert Murdoch on Paywalls, Print Media and the iPad March 3, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/02/05/Rupert_Murdoch_The_Future_of_Newspapers

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch reports that online subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal have increased since implementing a paywall, supporting his belief that consumers are willing to pay for quality online content. Murdoch also gives his take on the iPad, Apple's new tablet computer.

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Rupert Murdoch owns the controlling interest in News Corp., which in turn owns media properties on five continents -- properties that include some 170 newspapers, dozens of television stations, half a dozen television networks, a publishing company, and a movie studio.

In this wide-ranging interview, Murdoch discusses his rise from proprietor of the Adelaide News at age 22 (on the death of his father) to international media mogul. Weighing in on topics as varied as capitalism, feature films, China, and Google, the conversation invariably returns to newspapers and journalism. He answers charges about the political slant to his papers, and rejects the idea that the government must get involved to ensure the survival of a free press (an idea suggested by Dan Rather). "A bailout for newspapers?" Rupert Murdoch calls it "rubbish, and very dangerous rubbish." - Hoover Institution

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-American global media mogul. He is the major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation. Beginning with newspapers, magazines and television stations in his native Australia, Murdoch expanded News Corp into the UK, US and Asian media markets. In recent years has become a leading investor in satellite television, the film industry, the Internet and media. News Corp is based in New York.

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, Uncommon Knowledge.