by John Owens

It was inevitable that someone had to try and do something at some point. Rupert Murdoch, having suffered a £2 billion annual loss last year, is certainly leading from the front on the issue of how to steer a titanic newspaper industry away from the iceberg of bankruptcy.

Whilst I recognise that the dead-tree press needs to find its own savour, I’m not sure if the canny Australian’s solution is the answer; though publications like the Financial Times are able to charge a generally wealthy readership for specialised knowledge, it’s a big ask for other papers to pull off the same thing.

However, despite it being difficult to escape cynicism when it comes to the long term future of the printed press, it is good at least to see a few ideas about generating internet profit where before there has mostly been panic and a collective heads-in-the-sand mentality . Take suggestions posted today by former Lib Dem head of innovations Mark Pack, for instance.

If one thing is for certain, it’s that in all the arenas where products are routinely consumed free of charge where they were once paid for because of the internet —whether music or news- competition unable to adapt will either sink or be bought up.This would create an ironic situation in which the the diversity of the internet would lead to a homogenising of the businesses working within it.

This is not always a bad thing if it helps necessary services to survive, and the implications for news coverage are all the more troubling when authorities block the efforts of those who seek to solidfy in an attempt at survival because of monopoly laws, as happened with the OFT and local papers.

Suggestions on a postcard, or (more practically) the comments section, please.