James Murdoch: Newspapers need to innovate

The prospects for newspapers are not as gloomy as some think as long as they look to innovate, James Murdoch told the Monaco Media Forum on Wednesday.

While Murdoch, who was making his first public appearance since he took over News Corp’s European and Asian businesses, said that the company’s UK titles were facing pressure from falling ad spend, he added that it did not believe the outlook was as gloomy as some said.

“The newspaper industry has spent so much time wringing its hands about things that are exogenous and not enough time thinking about customers’ daily lives,” he said.

He added that the group is now using titles such as the Sunday Times to promote non-print businesses, while the Sun is benefiting from retailers wanting to advertise price cuts.

Murdoch also suggested that some acquisitions could be made, although he sounded a note of caution. “What you don’t want to do is be strong now and blow it in the first part of the storm,” he said.

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