signor_john - 3:33 am on Nov 18, 2009 (gmt 0)

Zett:

Erm, just for the record, you are describing an opt-in scenario.

Yep, I meant "opt in." Blame it on a middle-aged moment.

Stoutfiles:

You're right though, people would still want in, but for huge news sites I'm starting to doubt that web ads pay the bills.

They certainly don't pay enough (I remember reading in E&P a while back that newspaper sites were averaging display-ad CPMs of less than a dollar), but unless the huge news sites can figure out how to get users to pay for the generic news that most of them are dishing up, they'll continue to be stuck with a choice between abysmal CPMs and nothing.

He just wants people to go directly to his site instead of taking the Google News route.

Sure, but blocking Google's crawlers won't accomplish that--it will merely reduce drive-by traffic that's worth less than visits by registered (and preferably paying) users but is still worth something. Which is why Mr. Murdoch has yet to "block Google."