Really Bad Idea: Murdoch Wants to Charge for All News Corp. Web Sites

Wave goodbye to foxnwews.com, nypostpost.com and on and on the list goes. I've got as much respect for Rupert Murdoch as the next guy, but you can bet this won't fly, except maybe for access to the Wall Street Journal.

News Corp. said Wednesday it swung to a quarterly loss on $680 million in impairment, restructuring and other charges, most of them in their Fox Interactive Media unit, as the struggling worldwide economy held a firm grip on the media conglomerate.

Chairman Rupert Murdoch said that while economic downturn may have bottomed, "there are no clear signs of a fast recovery."

Murdoch, speaking to analysts and reporters during a conference call, said that advertising markets are showing "good signs of life" despite ongoing weakness in the automotive and financial categories.

Murdoch also said the company intends to charge for all of its news Web sites.

It's conceivable if they were to bundle access to all the News Corp. sites for a very small fee it would be worth consideration, although chances are they'd price out somewhere above 95% of their currents users.

Even the dunderheads at the NY Times relented and scuttled the silly Times Select, although the bulk of their editorial ninnies I wouldn't read if you paid me.