Rupert Murdoch vs. Arianna Huffington on the Future of News

I don't mind paying for information, but I expect it to be reasonably priced, and to be quality stuff. I also expect there to be a lot of information out there available gratis et libre, in what copyright experts call the public domain. This is stuff that people give away or is old enough that it is no longer covered by copyright. The public domain is an informational sphere as essential to responsible participatory democracy as the atmoshpere is to human life. Of course, if you want a case study of how media producers weigh in on that you can look at statutes that extend copyright protection beyond all reasonable limits and drastically shrink the public domain.

Both Murdoch and Huffington make mistakes in producing information that can be attributed to sloppiness. Murdoch, however, also uses news as an ideological tool to build power. Huffington's contribution, on the other hand, seems genuinely aimed at empowering the public. This distinction between seeking power and empowering others is what differentiates purely commercial journalism from ethical journalism, along with factual accuracy and fairness in reporting.

News in the United States could generally benefit from covering a greater cross-section of world events in greater depth.

Buck Berry of CT 7:01PM December 02, 2009