Paywall keeps 90% of London Times Readers Away!

London Times Loses 90% of Readers - The Daily Beast Rupert Murdoch, who famously bought the London Times in 1981 in a "calculated gesture of bravado and mischief," may have miscalculated. Owning The Sun and News of the World had brought him profit but much woe, according to veteran journo Simon Jenkins.

Buying The Times, then in desperate straits, would infuriate his enemies, raise his world profile and dilute his image as a vulgarian.Given the dire state of the newspaper industry, it could not conceivably make money. Fifty offers were received by Thomson but none was related to the paper’s (negative) value. An anti- Establishment owner would have bought The Times to get The Sunday Times, and closed it. Murdoch did not.

Whether it can make money from the pay wall remains to be seen. Murdoch is stubborn, though.

Pictures of war can carry more moral meaning than thousands of words

Pictures of war can carry more moral meaning than thousands of words | Ben Macintyre - Times Online

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Publishing the controversial photo of the dying Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard, aged 21, over the objections of his family drew widespread condemnaiton of the Associated Press as well as a tongue lashing from Alaska's ex-governor, Sarah Palin, on her Facebook page. OMG. The thoughtful article referenced above puts this photograph into perspective.

British Snappers get the shaft in hard times

Things aren't what they used to be for photojournalists, alas.

Photographers have been shocked by curt notices from Murdoch's News
International telling them that the Times is unilaterally reducing
its space rates. (This has also been reported by the Press Gazette)

Live News rates.(all in square inches. And sterling)
0-10" 90 down to 54
11-25" 130 down to 90
over 25" remains at 130

Stock rates.
0-6" 40 down from 75
7-10" 50 down from 110
over 10" 90 down from 110

Photographer response ranges from incredulous to disgust. These rates have been static for fifteen years, so the figures speak for themselves. What's more, the sterling exchange rate is going south. And most nationals insist on grabbing all electronic rights to the images. Some snappers are holding firm, in the knowledge that when that one needed image is unattainable elsewhere, the photo editors wil come crawling. Possibly....