Rupert Murdoch on "the natives"

I just stumbled upon a recent speech (April 13 2005) from my ex-fellow Australian Rupert Murdoch, who owns a newspaper or two. It seems Rupert has become aware of something called the Internet and that he needs to do something abut it if he is to continue to make so much money. So he called his editors together in a meeting reminiscent of a council of the Admiralty before an important battle (he even mentioned Napoleon in the speech!!) and outlined his vision. Murdoch's vision sounds like a colonizer's agenda, I quote;

"as someone searching for answers to an emerging medium that is not my native language"

"The digital native doesn't send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online, and starts a blog. We need to be the destination for those bloggers. We need to encourage readers to think of the web as the place to go to engage our reporters and editors in more extended discussions about the way a particular story was reported or researched or presented."

"To carry this one step further, some digital natives do even more than blog with text they are blogging with audio, specifically through the rise of podcasting and to remain fully competitive, some may want to consider providing a place for that as well."

"We may never become true digital natives, but we can and must begin to assimilate to their culture and way of thinking. It is a monumental, once-in-a-generation opportunity, but it is also an exciting one..."

Batten down the hatches Mr Christian and prepare for boarders!