Not too long ago, news was accessible via the morning paper, prime-time newscast or radio. But the Internet changed the way we get updates on local and international news. No need to wait the next morning paper, nor watch the news broadcast later tonight if you want to know more details about breaking news that happened now.

The good news is that websites, social media and search engines connived to provide Internet users better access to news and information. The bad news is that news sources are unable to make money out of these conveniences they provided. The sagging subscription numbers and dwindling advertising earnings have prompted layoffs and magazine closures (see Bloomberg, Time Inc and PCMag. Print magazines and newspapers have folded for good (Time, CosmoGirl and Seattle Post-Intelligencer as examples. Focus has now been towards their online presence and now, Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate who heads the News Corporation, is out to change the business model and make visitors pay as they access content.

A possible impediment? News content is freely searchable through search engines, notably Google News. By virtue as the most popular search engine worldwide, Google is now the target of Mr Murdoch as he wants all news content of his web-based media property websites delisted from Google search results. He can then promptly ask readers to pay to access content.

In its fresh efforts to get a more competitive share in the search engine market, Bing has stepped in and offered to pay Mr Murdoch for exclusive News Corporation content, assuming that Murdoch-owned websites successfully removed from Google index. That remains to be seen if visitors are forced to buy content they used to access freely on the web. And it looks like other media companies would like to join the coalition which is understandable.

If search engines like Google don't yield meaningful results anymore, I think user numbers will decrease, adversely affecting business models such as paid search advertising, which draws the biggest income for the search engine business. In short, Google probably doesn't like the route Mr Murdoch is taking.

What's interesting is that it's not really necessary to block search engine entry to News Corporation (using robots.txt directive or URL removal tool).

Josh Cohen from Google News explains (long article!) about PayWalls, partnerships and working with publishers. It is possible for Google to see the entire content yet displays partial content only to visitors, allowing them to take a preview of the content and get full access upon full payment.

Mr Murdoch has been successful in the business for a long time. Now he's defying the conventional thought of how the Web works. The best thing for us spectators is to see how his plans are executed, how it impacts Google and whether this changes us back to our old prime-time TV news habits.

Photo credit: World Economic Forum