The former News Corp Australia boss declared print dead, before adding that newspaper managements had themselves to blame because they had refused to embrace the opportunities offered by new technology.

“A radical reinvention is what is needed, and they should abandon the notion of editorial infallibility,” Mr Williams said in his keynote address at the New News conference at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre. 

“They [traditional media] took their digital presence lightly and offered everything for free, and then suddenly they told their customers they would have to pay for it. It doesn’t work that way.”

“The rules of engagement have been radically altered and old rules no longer apply.” — Kim Williams

Asked what he would have done had he been at the helm of News Corp in the 1990s during the emergence of the Internet and digital news offerings, Mr Williams replied that he would have sought a partnership with Google. He said advertising revenue had increased by more than 1000 per cent between 2003 and 2013 compared to online newspapers whose profits rose from only $1.2 billion to $3.4 billion over the same period. Mr Williams said that print media should come to terms with the fact that digital media was about citizen empowerment, unlike the editors and journalists deciding what their audiences should read and watch as it once was.

“One thing is abundantly clear: we are now witnessing the most profound transfer of power in human history, from producers to consumers.” 

He said there wasn’t any denying the fact that the established media brands had to go digital if they were to survive.

“The costs of operation in running a newspaper are unsustainably high and they do not stand a chance when competing against the relatively low-cost new media,” he said.

Mr Williams said that innovative methods of generating revenues such as “crowd-funding” and philanthropy were needed.

“The rules of engagement have been radically altered and old rules no longer apply,” he said.

He warned that many established media organisations would fall quickly as a result of this “new wave” and many subsequent waves would follow in coming years. “The cost of entry is lower so the cost of failure is lower,” he reasoned.

Mr Williams said that the Internet had “no respect” for any person, organisation, government or geographical border.

Changes necessarily were going to be messy and disruptive. “The best approach would be to confront and adapt to those changes rather than denying them,” he said.

He added that governments also had a role to play by updating laws and educating people, as per the demands of the evolving technologies.

He said that the journey of the digital revolution was still in its “infancy” and there were many more unpredictable changes that would be unleashed.

“Merit, ingenuity, speed and performance will be the defining factors for success in the future,” he said.