Soundbite: Murdoch Deputy Says “Beware Of Geeks Bearing Gifts”

“The news, they say, is viral now – that we should be grateful. Well, I think all of us need to beware of geeks bearing gifts. Here we are in 2009 – more viral, less profitable. Because news costs. Because quality costs. Because free sets the price too low. Because free isn’t sustainable. Because free is too expensive.”

–Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton, railing against the “content kleptomaniacs” who dominate the Web

In a blistering speech at the World Newspaper Conference, Hinton echoed his boss Rupert Murdoch‘s suspicions about the Internet. Along with the pugnacious quote above (though who actually says “the news is viral?”), he compared old media entering the web to “an over-eager middle-aged dad,” criticized aggregators and “thieves” for the newspaper industry’s nosedive, and called out Jeff Jarvis as a moony-eyed leader of “the information-must-be-free imperative.”

To which Jarvis replied on his blog: a. I’m not actually a member of that crowd, and b. hey, remember when Rupert Murdoch favorably referenced me in a speech in 2005?

Read the full speech at paidcontent.org.

(via paidcontent; h/t Romenesko)

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