When news is free
I HATE getting the bus to work. By the time I’ve walked to the bus stop, waited on a bus, got on the bus, caught swine flu and been deposited outside the Ubisan Office, I could have cycled to the office almost four times. Aside from the risk of communicable disease and being attacked by Rottweilers named after Celtic football players, the only plus is I get to sit down and read a leftover newspaper for half an hour. Even if it is The Sun.
Don’t worry, I washed my hands afterwards.
Whilst I’ve contributed to the chatter myself about[intlink id="261" type="post"] newspapers feeling the pinch and trying to charge for or limit content[/intlink] it opened my eyes even further to the way things are going on my last bus journey.
The Sun Sports section carried a story about Andy Murray’s final third round match with Verdasco and because of the paper going to print it didn’t know if the Murray victory would be enough to qualify him for the semi’s of the ATP Tour Finals as it depended on the result of the following match.
To find out, The Sun encouraged you to log on to their website to find out. What did I immediately do? I logged on to the BBC Sport website (stored as one of my favourites on my phone) and read the story there.
Rupert Murdoch would hate the fact that:
- I didn’t buy the paper in the first place.
- I went to the BBC for the news rather than the website he wants me to go to.
- The information was free.
Everybody has their own source that they trust for news, views, restaurant reviews etc whether it’s a friend, somebody at work or God forbid, a search engine! What’s your source?
For those that are interested, Murray didn’t get through and here’s the links to the two stories. I guess Rupert got me to visit in the end. Doh!
The BBC. (Headline: Andy Murray knocked out of World Tour Finals at O2)
The Sun (Headline: I MUZ BE OFF THEN )