Prompt's TechBlog

As debate continues about the implications of News Corp.'s shock bid for Dow Jones, a couple of under-the-radar pieces this week illustrated the deeply divided attitude towards the shifting media landscape among top executives in the Murdoch empire.

Firstly, Jeff Jarvis provided a rare insight into Rupert Murdoch's mindset in a blog post recounting a dinner held for News Corp. execs at the chairman's Monterey ranch. It's clear from the post that Murdoch continues to embrace the world of Web 2.0 wholeheartedly. Not only had he invited uber-bloggers Jarvis and Nick Denton to explain the new media landscape to his generals, but he also spent the entire dinner deep in conversation with Mark Zuckerberg, the precocious 22 year-old CEO of social networking site Facebook. At a meeting earlier in the day, Murdoch had also encouraged his executives to 'make a huge leap in a completely different world.'

While Murdoch clearly grasps the importance of embracing the new dynamics of the participatory Web, not all of his executives are so enthusiastic. A Reuters report from the National Cable and Telecommunications Conference revealed deep reservations among the 'old media' about the importance of the internet. Among those calling for restraint was News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, who said 'the amount of money we get from those [internet companies] are a fraction of those we get from the cable industry. We must be careful not to disaggregate.'

Reuters suggests that a siege mentality has set in among mainstream media providers, with Time Warner chief exec Richard Parsons comparing big media to native Americans besieged by colonial forces in the Indian Wars. Whatever you think of this extraordinary analogy, it seems that YouTube and its ilk have got the established media very rattled. But as Apple demonstrated in the music industry, joining them, rather than trying to beat them, will probably prove to be the better strategy.

Labels: web 2.0