Good Luck With That, Rupert

It's the biggest challenge facing online publishers: Monetizing their content in a world where readers long have been conditioned to expect free. So far only a handful of sites -- the Wall Street Journal and ESPN.com are major examples -- have had any success with a paid-subscription model (though most of ESPN's content costs nothing).

Now Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp. -- which owns WSJ, Fox News, the New York Post and News of the World, among other media properties -- says it's time to charge for all of it. From New York Magazine:

"Quality journalism is not cheap," Murdoch said, after his company reported a $3.4 billion loss for the first half of the year. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites."

He anticipates this change will go into effect within the year, and that by next summer even his tabloid newspapers -- which sell on newsstands for pennies -- will be surrounded by pay walls. "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other media," he added.

I certainly agree that quality journalism isn't cheap, and based on News Corp.'s massive losses, neither is the brand of journalism practiced by outlets such as Fox News. It appears that promoting tea parties and "birther" conspiracies are costly endeavors.

While I'm more than happy to have News Corp. act as the canary in the coal mine for other online publishers, I believe this is doomed to fail, simply because it's almost impossible to keep content (paid or otherwise) from being lifted and published elsewhere on the Internet. Jeff Jarvis makes another good point in this column:

Charging for content brings marketing and customer-service costs. Online, it reduces audience and the advertising they justify. Putting content behind a wall cuts it off from search and links; they cut off your Googlejuice.

When publishers build those walls, they open the door for free competitors, who can now enter the content business with virtually no barrier to entry. Publishers who fool themselves into thinking pay will save the day only further forestall the innovation and experimentation that is the only possible path to success online.

I'm eager to see what happens, though I think there's a distinct possibility that Murdoch will change his mind as reality sinks in. We'll find out soon enough.