NDM News Stories

Can dropping the paywall and upping the story count boost Sun’s website?

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul previously known for his refusal to give editorial content away free, has bowed to the inevitable by dismantling the Sun’s paywall. It was a flawed decision at its inception in 2013 and has proved to be disastrous ever since. Even a partial lifting of the wall in July made little difference. Indeed, it tended to frustrate non-paying visitors to the website who were uncertain what was, and was not, freely available. It was significant the Sun’s digital audience slipped backwards in September compared to August, suggesting opening the odd door in the wall had failed to keep stimulating interest. Meanwhile, the paper’s rivals have continued to prosper. Mail Online kept growing apace and the Daily Mirror, despite a somewhat clunky site, began to attract an impressively increasing audience. 

This story really exhibits this expectation that news should be free. In this current generation, majority of people don't see the value in forking out £7.99 per month to access news sites such as, Rupert Murdoch's the Sun, where they are able to access sites such as BBC news where the standard of journalism is equally has high. In my opinion, Murdoch's paywall on the Sun restricts his audience to familiar the Sun readers thus not expanding his audience. This restriction really jeopardises Murdoch's revenue with the paywall.  

Surveillance, privacy, and the British press

In June 2013, the Guardian newspaper began to publish Edward Snowden’s account of mass data collection by the British and American governments. The revelations which followed led to public and political outcry across the world. But the reaction from the British press was almost more extraordinary than the leaks themselves. the liberal left tends to be more suspicious of the security state than the right. But right-wing newspapers are quite capable of speaking out against state surveillance when it touches on their own interests. Witness the Save our Sources campaign, which–rightly–questioned the use of police powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to gather data on journalists’ sources. The Sun was a vocal supporter of the campaign – but welcomed state surveillance of the general public. 

This article demonstrates how peoples rights of privacy is being impeded. This shows how people's lives are being monitored however what's most shocking is how the Sun "welcomed state surveillance of the general public." This really calls to question the agenda of news institutions. By welcoming surveillance, it shows the lack of safety and security people have online.