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What Rupert Murdoch Can Teach Local Stations About Web Content

So the rumblings coming down the long series of tubes we call the internet seem to suggest Rupert Murdoch's sent his people to Home Depot to stock up on pay wall building supplies.

As Roy Greenslade writes in the Guardian, "barely a day passes in which a story doesn't emerge about Rupert Murdoch's determination to charge for content.  If he isn't speaking about it himself, his senior executives are doing so."

As The Age reported, Murdoch's message is simple:  less money from advertising means you gotta bring in the bucks from somewhere else, or risk making less money, and that, to a man like Murdoch, is not an option.  "We realise this is going to be a tough challenge, but we're determined to take a leadership position in creating an economic template for the future," Murdoch said.

Now here's the thing about charging for content--whether you prefer free or pay--neither model works if you don't, you know, have content that's worth a damn.  And that's where most local stations seem to go astray.  Have a look at your own station (if you work at one) site, or any of the local news sites in your town.  How much content is available elsewhere?  How much is unique?  How much of what you see on the site would you miss if it was shuttered up behind a pay wall?

Is there anything on that site you'd actually pay even a quarter for?  A nickel?  One one-hundredth of a penny as part of a PayPal content paying arrangement?

You see, Murdoch may be wrong about charging for content.  But he knows one thing:  he's got content people just might pay for, whether it's The Wall Street Journal or Hulu.

The talk about charging for content should be a reminder to station managers, news directors and web chieftans to take a serious look at what you offer as "content." Is it a recorded-after-the-noon-show "webcast" and a few updated-once-a-month anchor blogs?  Is the rest filled in by the network, the A.P., and your overworked web staff?

Let's play a game.  Say your site's part of News Corp and Rupert Murdoch called you tomorrow morning.  One question, he says:  "what've you got that I can charge money for?"

What would you tell him?