Newspapers remain the most important source of information for young people despite their waning popularity, News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch told students and faculty yesterday at Georgetown University.
"I think [newspapers] are the best training ground for young people," he said.
Murdoch addressed the issues faced by students involved in both the journalistic aspect and business aspect of the news industry. Innovation and imagination are the two greatest assets both a writer and businessman could have, he said.
He also acknowledged the rise of digital media as an important movement but said he was disappointed that traditional newspapers are less popular today.
"The key is not how old you are," Murdoch said. "The key is how well you accept change. You are the future - your tastes and the technology together. In news, our most valuable asset is our people. You are growing up in a digital world."
In the question-and-answer portion after his speech, Murdoch said he did believe a limitation in the number of media companies could be an issue, but if it were handled properly, it would be less of a problem.
Though his larger newspapers, including The New York Post, are still doing well, they are not doing nearly as well as they did before the digital age began. In addition to the decrease in newspaper circulation in general, The Post has always competed with The New York Times - a competition that News Corp. always lost despite their good circulation levels, Murdoch said.
To draw in the digital generation, News Corp. purchased MySpace, an Internet networking Web site, so that people all over the world could stay in touch, Murdoch said.
Murdoch said he wasn't concerned about the popularity of Facebook, a site considered to be MySpace's competitor.
"Facebook has less than half as many people active on MySpace," he said.
While Murdoch did not address any specifics of the future of his company, he stressed the direction in which it was going - that they would be emphasizing innovation and imagination.
However, Murdoch admitted that the future of News Corp. is still open.
"We at News Corp. have one certainty," he said. "And that certainty is that we never know where we are going to end up"
