News Corp. baron Rupert Murdoch's plan to block Google from indexing his newspapers' web sites could mean The Wall Street Journal's site "could lose up to 25 percent of its traffic," reports PC Magazine.
As I noted here yesterday, Murdoch seems intent on erecting a barrier against companies linking to his articles. The ostensible reason is that he will be putting in a paid content system -- but that's a ridiculous argument. People still link to a paid article, but when they get there, they need to sign in. Has anyone ever clicked through to a Financial Times article? That's what you get. (Unless, like me, you're one of the chosen who has a subscription.)
Daily Finance blogger Jeff Bercovici thinks Murdoch's too smart to cut off his own legs, questioning "whether he's really so angry at the 'parasites' he's prepared to drink poison just to hurt them." While I'd hope he'd gulp it down, I agree that Murdoch is anything but stupid long-term. Crass. Purveyor of yellow journalism. Debaser of culture and politics. Sure, but not long-term stupid.
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