Murdoch Pushes Facebook to Pay for News to Guarantee Quality
- Billionaire also targets Google in call to be paid for news
- Wants publishers to be compensated like television networks
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Rupert Murdoch, the media billionaire who controls the Wall Street Journal, called on Facebook Inc. to begin paying publishers fees to carry the news that its users post and share online in a sign of the print industry’s growing frustration with social media.
“If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar to the model adopted by cable companies,” Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp. said Monday in a statement. “The publishers are obviously enhancing the value and integrity of Facebook through their news and content but are not being adequately rewarded for those services.”