A generation ago, the NewsCorp chief executive Rupert Murdoch revolutionised British journalism, for better or worse. Now he intends to do the same for global online journalism.
Despite conventional internet wisdom that says people browsing the web are extremely reluctant to pay for news content, readers will soon start having to pay to access online versions of two famous British newspapers: The Times and The Sunday Times.
Even The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times allow readers unrestricted free access to much of their sites.
Mr Murdoch is not only hiding all the online content behind a paywall, he is also blocking Google from aggregating any of the news from the websites.
"We are betting people will be prepared to pay for the high-quality content we offer. We believe there's a logical disconnect between charging for the printed version of the paper and giving that content and more away free online," says Tristan Davies, The Sunday Times's executive online editor.
"We believe a known, paying audience is more valuable to advertisers than millions of anonymous, drive-by eyeballs."
But some analysts believe Mr Murdoch and his staff face a formidable task in trying to bring the economics of the newspaper industry to the internet.
"The key question is how can The Times and The Sunday Times differentiate themselves from the existing ocean of freely available content? Charging consumers for aggregating news is no good in an era where sites such as Google offer comprehensive aggregation services for free," says Adrian Drury, a principal analyst at the researcher Ovum. "The lesson is that customers so far seem unwilling to pay a premium for news stories. It is very difficult to differentiate a news product."
One possible way to do so would be to provide the reading public with hard-hitting news stories that are not available elsewhere - something The Sunday Times, in particular, was once extremely good at.
"Can a model be found for creating and, more crucially, paying for the kind of investigative journalism and exclusive stories that, for instance, made the reputation of the old Sunday Times Insight team under Harold Evans in the 1960s and 1970s?" says Mr Drury.
In the 1980s, Mr Murdoch's critics, of which there were many, accused him of taking newspapers such as The Sunday Times, The Times and The Sun irretrievably downmarket. A revered institution under the editorship of Evans, The Sunday Times was opened up to a much broader readership under Mr Murdoch's protege, Andrew Neil. Bland but advertisement-filled supplements and "lifestyle" columns soon replaced hard-hitting investigative journalism and insightful political commentary.
The Sunday Times and its sister paper The Times may now have to try to emulate past legendary successes such as the exposure of Kim Philby, a high-ranking British intelligence officer, as a Soviet spy and its successful fight to secure justice for hundreds of severely disabled British children whose mothers, when pregnant, had taken a drug called thalidomide designed to prevent morning sickness that caused terrible birth defects.
Mr Davies, however, claims The Sunday Times Insight team continues to research exclusive stories. But he also thinks the internet presents newspapers with far greater opportunities than traditional printing presses offered his Fleet Street forebears. He believes, for instance, the new generation of mobile devices such as the Apple iPad will help create a new type of loyal newspaper readership.
"You find me at my desk working on an iPad app for The Sunday Times. We believe that tablet devices such as the iPad offer a fantastic online newspaper experience. We are also tailoring our content for smartphones," Mr Davies says.
He also predicts the internet will enable more national newspaper brands to attract new readers worldwide.
"For us, digital publishing is going global. In terms of geographical differentiation, we wouldn't rule out offering specialised content to locations such as the Middle East though there are no plans to do so yet. We will be offering our readers in Ireland content from our Irish editions in due course" he says.
Mr Davies also believes The Sunday Times will be able to differentiate itself through its supplements and by using video to allow readers to see the editorial workings of the paper.
"At a basic level, news is available everywhere. But the quality of reporting and level of expertise and analysis offered by The Times and The Sunday Times is not. In addition to news coverage, we have our supplements which provide unique cultural coverage. We also offer rich video content online - readers can go behind the scenes of Style fashion shoots for example, or watch Michael Frith at work in his studio - and access to our roster of writers," he says.
But it is by no means certain that this offering will be sufficient to draw paying customers on to the website.
"At the moment, The Times and The Sunday Times are not making much money out of all their online readers. The danger with their new strategy is that they may lose the online readers they already have without generating new ones," says Mr Drury.
The online barriers facing The Times and The Sunday Times are truly daunting. A survey by Entertainment Media Research found that 91 per cent of 1,592 people surveyed said they would be unwilling to pay the £1 (Dh5.44) a day or £2 per week that Mr Murdoch is asking to access both The Times and The Sunday Times's websites. And, according to Ovum, while Facebook users spend on average90 minutes on the site, users of sites such as The Times generally spend around 15 seconds skimming the headlines.
"The big question is whether News Corp is prepared to bet on the fact that The Times and Sunday Times brands and the bylines of their leading journalists are strong enough to make people pay for only content. It is a very risky gamble," says Mr Drury.
business@thenational.ae
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The details
Colette
Director: Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West
Our take: 3/5
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait this month is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait
World T20 2020 Qualifying process:
- Sixteen teams will play at the World T20 in two years’ time.
- Australia have already qualified as hosts
- Nine places are available to the top nine ranked sides in the ICC’s T20i standings, not including Australia, on Dec 31, 2018.
- The final six teams will be decided by a 14-team World T20 Qualifier.
World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
