Newspapers are toast, official

UNLESS the newspaper industry adapts to the technological revolution of the Internet, MP3 players, laptops and mobile phones they will be extinct according to media baron Rupert Murdoch.

Speaking to a meeting of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, no really, Murdoch warned that companies that expect a glorious past to shield them from the forces of change driven by advancing technology were doomed.

He said that power was moving away from an old elite in the media industry. Editors, chief executives and even hands on proprietors such as himself didn't have nearly so much clout. It is being replaced because a new generation of media consumers had risen and demanded content all the time.

Murdoch said the traditional media needed to engage with more demanding, questioning and better educated consumers and adapt.

Traditional magazines need to use their skills to create and distribute dynamic, exciting content, but have to put it on a variety of platforms such as websites, iPods, mobile phones or laptops.

He didn't think that newspapers would disappear in the short term, but that newsprint and ink will be just one of many channels.

More 'ere. µ