Newspapers can survive digital age: Murdoch

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch says newspapers will survive the digital age, as long as they provide readers with news they can trust.
 
In his third Boyer lecture on ABC Radio National today, Mr Murdoch says too many journalists are ruminating on their pending demise in the digital age.
 
He says some newspapers have become too focussed on winning awards, or pushing their own agendas, at the expense of circulation.
 
But Mr Murdoch says the newspaper, or its very close electronic cousin, will always be around if they providers readers with what they want.
 
"We are moving from newspapers to news brands. For all of my working life, I have believed that there is a social and commercial value in delivering accurate news and information in a cheap and timely way," he said.
 
"In this coming century the form of delivery may change, but the potential audience for our content will multiply many times over."
 
Mr Murdoch says the desire for awards among journalists has become a fetish.
 
He says papers are running stories reflecting their own interests and for fellow journalists rather than what is relevant to readers' lives, while some editors commission stories where the sole purpose is the quest for a prize.
 
"When I started out in the business anyone who dared parade a prize for excellence would have been hooted out of the newsroom for taking himself too seriously," he said.