Listening to the likes of Rupert Murdoch can be a depressing activity. When Murdoch had to announce a 32 per cent year-on-year decline in News Corp’s adjusted full-year operating income, he needed someone to put the blame on.

So he lashed out at Amazon, for not giving News Corp. a large enough cut of the subscription fee that readers of the Wall Street Journal paid to read the newspaper on their Kindle. Oh and Amazon also had the nerve to consider those Kindle-owners subscribers to Amazon services, not to the WSJ.

When asked if Murdoch intended to compete with Amazon’s Kindle, the reply was short and clear; "We’re not in the hardware business."
But that was not enough. Murdoch announced that all of News Corp.’s media would charge readers for digital content by the end of the next fiscal year. In Murdoch’s words

"Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting."
For a much more refreshing look at journalism, have a look at the Twitter feed of Chris Ahearn, president, Media at Thomson Reuters.

Ahearn has actively discussed (and continues to do so) the role of journalism in an age of social networking and micro-blogging on Twitter.

One day before Murdoch made his announcements, Ahearn published a blog on Reuters, entitled Why I believe in the link economy, that concentrated Ahearn’s beliefs in a single article.

In an outspoken style, Ahearn challenges Old Media to consider changes, saying "the Internet isn’t killing the news business any more than TV killed radio or radio killed the newspaper. Incumbent business leaders in news haven’t been keeping up. Blaming the new leaders or aggregators for disrupting the business of the old leaders, or sabre-rattling and threatening to sue are not business strategies – they are personal therapy sessions. Go ask a music executive how well it works."

Ahearn wraps his belief in the link economy in a simple mantra: "Do unto others," saying "I believe in the link economy. Please feel free to link to our stories — it adds value to all producers of content."

One of the first reader comments to Ahearn’s blog reads: "What a sensible attitude! I’m bookmarking your news site, so if I refer to a current event I can link to somebody who’ll appreciate the traffic.
(See how this works, Associated Press? I would never have thought to distinguish between news sources if you hadn’t started this.)"

Rupert Murdoch? Rupert who?