The genie is out of the bottle on 'free' news - and not even Murdoch can put it back

Google today announced that newspaper publishers will now be able to set a limit on the number of free news articles people can read through their website.

Up until now, most news coming via Google was free, but after pressure from some in the newspaper industry (most notably Rupert Murdoch) they are now launching a First Click Free programme, whereby publishers can now prevent unrestricted access to subscription websites.


Murdoch, chief exec and chairman of Newscorp, which owns the likes of the Sun and The Times, has accused firms such as Google of profiting from journalism by generating advertising revenue by linking readers to newspaper articles.

Make no mistake, this is a big move by Google, but one suspects that fear of litigation from Murdoch may have forced their hand.

However, there is a prevailing view that Murdoch's vision is, well, not compatible with the emerging new media business model. Sure, some sites demand that users pay for subsciptions, but they tend to be niche and do not cover general news.

The problem for Murdoch is compounded by the fact that there is no much free general news out there now, people will just look elsewhere. Afterall, it's basic human nature not resist paying for something when you can get it for nothing. And with 24 hour news and the internet, there's no need to even leave the house.

This is a difficult time for news organisations, and some could end up falling by the wayside. Eventually, an accepted business model will emerge, but the key question is will it be to the detriment of the traditional printed product? Perhaps a hybrid solution can be found, but the road to finding it is sure to be very bumpy indeed.

Turning a negative into a positive the Ratner way

The Clear Comms team was delighted to attend an inspirational business seminar at West Lancs Investment Centre last night with guestspeakers Deirdre Bounds and Gerald Ratner.

The theme of both their talks was essentially how to turn a negative into a positive - Ratner with his infamous "crap" remark and Bounds who detailed her journey from someone who was, by her own admission, unemployable to an entrepreneur with stacks of cash in the bank.


The Clear team got the chance to ask Ratner a question in the Q&A session afterwards, and we asked him how come it took so long for him to realise that he could turn a negative situation into a positive (ie - how to 'cash in' on his reputation to make future successes).

His answer was quite interesting, and Ratner said that it was actually his wife who spurred him after "five years of sitting in bed watching Countdown".

Ratner's experience in not realising his own potential is not that uncommon, and he went onto to admit that many people who find themselves in difficulties, having received constant knockbacks, don't realise what they have and, more importantly, how to use it.

Bill Taylor, West Lancashire Borough Council's excellent Chief Executive, followed this up by rightly pointing out that Ratner has a particular USP (Unique Selling Point) and in a saturated market, it is how you use your own USP that seperates the good businesses or people from the great.

As a company, we see this a lot, especially with organisations and smaller businesses (sometimes even larger ones) who don't realise just what potential they have, whether it be a chance to raise their media profiles or how to turn a negative into a positive.

But as both Deirdre Bounds and Gerald Ratner said, you will get knocks in businesses, but it is how you bounce back from those knocks that is the most important.

Finally, a word must go to West Lancashire Borough Council's Econonmic Regeneration team and the team at West Lancs Investment Centre who have pulled out all the stops to give real help to businesses in the West Lancs area and put on a range of free events and activities, such as the event last night.

For more information on West Lancs Investment Centre, log onto http://www.westlancashireinvestmentcentre.com and for Enterprising West Lancs, log onto the link here.