Granted, this is a bit tardy for a blog post - it is two days since Rupert Murdoch delivered his stunning analysis that, whilst newspaper sales are declining, young people are using the internet - in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
I have written before about some of my tempered scepticism over Murdoch's approach to the web, and his continued interest in promoting the idea that this time he is serious is not really surprising.
He had mugged up by reading Merrill Brown's very interesting (and depressing for some newspapers) article in the Carnegie Reporter. Despite the fact that there was something a bit 1996 about the talk of destinations and portals, the potential for Murdoch to switch his resources to the web has left the bloggers and commentators atwitter.
I think that - as ever - Steve Outing, the godfather of internet journalism commentary, nails it when he makes the simple point that, however much we have heard it all before, some things are different when Murdoch says them. Here is part of Outing's post from Poynter:
" … I have to wonder if, coming from his station, the words will have more impact on what the industry actually does.
"The big need within the news industry, I believe, is to shift significant amounts of money into research and development of digital media products and services, in order to compete with deep-pocket internet competitors who increasingly are aiming their focus on local markets and stealing some of newspapers' role in the community (and thus profits).
"When executives like Murdoch start singing that tune, perhaps that will actually happen."
The News Corp/Fox portal is something we can only wonder at – imagine Sun instant messaging. But then it is clear that, even with renewed vigour for the web, Murdoch has a huge tanker to turn round in terms of News Corps paid-for content culture. Right hand man Peter Chernin's long campaign against digital piracy has not exactly made News Corp many new friends in the free world Murdoch is keen to join.
But everyone is entitled to change their mind, and the rise and rise of free content could also be why Murdoch is looking at launching a fresh foray into the UK newspaper market for the first time in more than a decade.
