In a sign that a Rupert Murdoch-controlled Wall Street Journal could be more reader-friendly, the News Corp (NYSE: NWS) CEO says he will make the paper's website free to access. He hopes to make up for the drop in subscription revenue by selling advertising.According to The New York Times, Mr. Murdoch says, "We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having 1 million, having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth."
Exactly. The Wall Street Journal is, by far, the most respected name in financial journalism, and by making it free online, it instantly becomes the number one most-respected business site in the country. There's also a socially responsible side to this move: High school students and other less-affluent followers of business news will have access to the best coverage.
There was a lot of talk about Murdoch's grubby paws ruining The Journal. But if this first move is any indication, he'll be a much better steward than the Bancrofts were.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-13-2007 @ 3:17PM
Gumby said...
Sound great! Just please keep the ad banners quiet not loud or too distracting. You know, it is about money and it requires concentrated analysis reading articles and numbers in WSJ. Loud ad banners will negate that and nobody will come anymore.
11-17-2007 @ 2:35PM
Dan said...
I do not want to see wsj.com become free. I do not want to be barraged by ads when trying to read and think about the articles and data in the wsj. I already detect an increase in ads in the print version. If the website is made free, the ads will increase and become the focus at the expense of the great journalism of the wsj. I hope this doesn’t come to pass, but I am not sentimental and will drop my subscriptions if it gets bad. That would be a very sad day.
12-07-2007 @ 8:23AM
tech_analyst said...
The big point that everyone is missing is that paper subscribers will stop their subscriptions and millions of dollars of traditional revenue will disappear. Freeing the WSJ is not a good business idea.