Mawgablog

Rupert Murdoch frowns up bloggers and news aggregators

This is a post I wrote a little while back, but accidentally published as a page rather than as an entry. So I’m moving it. Sorry if it seems a little bit old. I tell you, this blogging lark is quite complex. I sometimes long for the days of my old Myspace blog, where I could just wax on and not worry about the complexities of themes and widgets and Zemanta and on  and on.

Anyway, here’s the old entry.

I’m having a big problem with old Rupert Murdoch at the moment, it must be said. He’s gung-ho on charging folk for content online, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. According to this article on the Guardian’s website, he reckons aggregation is theft.

Now, I’m not sure what he means by that. Is he having a pop at the likes of the Huffington Post? Of Google? Well, Arianna Huffington has written a hearty rebuttal of that  recent address, which he gave to the Federal Trade Commission; funnily enough, she was also on the bill. You can read Huffington’s rebuttal for yourself. Have they really called aggregators  “tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internets”? Fighting talk!

It’s nice of Murdoch to appear to be sticking up for journalists. But somehow, I don’t really think he gives a monkey’s about the folk he employs much beyond his statutory duties. I think he’s worried about regulation and subsidy. I think he’s lobbying. He’s played the game, he’s losing, he wants the rules changed. It’s that simple. Financially, he’s big and strong. He’s flexing. If he really wanted to charge people sincerely, he’d do it and then shut the fuck up about it. If he really wanted impartial news, he’d get rid of Glenn Beck and that bunch of brownshirts marauding around his studios disguised as journalists.

His son James not long ago launched a scathing attack on the BBC, and Murdoch cited calls to subsidise local news in his recent tirade. Perhaps he’s jittery about the left leanings of the Obama administration, and sees a chink of sunlight in form of the conservative party in Britain to finally shake up the Beeb and ownership rights on this side of the pond? That, of course, is speculation on my part. naughty me. I don’t have time right now to settle down and really get to the heart of all this tonight.

I’m a very busy man now. When I’m not writing about colour psychology or interviewing Milton Glaser, I seem to be shucking  Susan Boyle CDs. It’s an ignoble task, yes, but it pays. A little bit. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all. That makes them beggars, yes?

Must dash. I have a book about bass playing to complete.

I’m having a big problem with old Rupert Murdoch at the moment, it must be said. He’s gung-ho on charging folk for content online, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. According to this article on the Guardian’s website, he reckons aggregation is theft.

Now, I’m not sure what he means by that. Is he having a pop at the likes of the Huffington Post? Of Google? Well, Arianna Huffington has written a hearty rebuttal of that  recent address, which he gave to the Federal Trade Commission; funnily enough, she was also on the bill. You can read Huffington’s rebuttal for yourself. Have they really called aggregators  “tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internets”? Fighting talk!

It’s nice of Murdoch to appear to be sticking up for journalists. But somehow, I don’t really think he gives a monkey’s about the folk he employs much beyond his statutory duties. I think he’s worried about regulation and subsidy. I think he’s lobbying. He’s played the game, he’s losing, he wants the rules changed. It’s that simple. Financially, he’s big and strong. He’s flexing. If he really wanted to charge people sincerely, he’d do it and then shut the fuck up about it. If he really wanted impartial news, he’d get rid of Glenn Beck and that bunch of brownshirts marauding around his studios disguised as journalists.

His son James not long ago launched a scathing attack on the BBC, and Murdoch cited calls to subsidise local news in his recent tirade.

Perhaps he’s jittery about the left leanings of the Obama administration, and sees a chink of sunlight in form of the conservative party in Britain to finally shake up the Beeb and ownership rights on this side of the pond? That, of course, is speculation on my part. naughty me. I don’t have time right now to settle down and really get to the heart of all this tonight.

I’m a very busy man now. When I’m not writing about colour psychology or interviewing Milton Glaser, I seem to be shucking  Susan Boyle CDs. It’s an ignoble task, yes, but it pays. A little bit. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all. That makes them beggars, yes?

Must dash. I have a book about bass playing to complete.