Founder of 'The Register' challenges press giants with new online news venture

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 27 January 2009 00:51

Business IT - Networking

Veteran Online journalist, Mike Magee, cofounder of the UK tech news website 'The Register' and later of 'The Inquirer' is taking on global newspaper giants with a new global online news web site.

Magee says the new online service The News (www.instantnews.net ), based in India, will "challenge the dominance of the national and international press by taking them on at their own game, without the print and distribution overheads."

The site will have its news hub in India, where editorial operations will be headed by Subhash Rai. He joined Magee after successfully starting and then running AOL's Indian news portal. Magee says that Rai's team will include full-time staff and freelancers from around the world.

Magee said: "At a time when multinational and national newspaper groups are cutting staff, closing offices and facing the overhead of print production, distribution costs and declining readership, we feel we've a good chance of taking on the giants by concentrating on sound journalism and challenging the state of journalism now." He continued: "A recent article on forbes.com told a stark truth. Print advertising...is evaporating."

Rai said: "Journalism divorced of traditional journalistic values is there for all to see. Online journalism of The News variety will bring a breath of fresh air."

Magee added that "Journalists these days are frightened little rabbits told to print or pixellate press releases and taught not to challenge power and vested interests. We will prove that journalism is not dead and that readers want strong journalism and not wishy-washy pap dictated to them by multiple vested interests. We don't follow the news, we make The News."

The News does not appear to have got off to a very good start. Its lead story when iTWire visited on the morning of Tuesday 27 January (AEST) was about a video interview of Bill Gates conducted by BBC journalist Fiona Bruce: Fiona Bruce does Bill Gates. She interviews the man who can leap over a chair." This was hardly news: the interview was first broadcast by the BBC in June 2008.

Magee launched The Register (www.theregister.co.uk ) with John Lettice in 1994s a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service. Magee left The Register in 2001 to start The Inquirer, (www.theinquirer.net ) which he sold to VNU Business Publications two years ago. The magazine is entirely Internet based with its journalists living all over the world and filing copy online. Magee left in February 2008 and in March 2008 Magee oversaw the launch of the IT Examiner in Bangalore (www.itexaminer.com ).