Could we have been looking at this all wrong? I mean, telling newspaper publishers that they need to become more open – free access for all – similar to the methodology adopted by social networking sites. With the high level of government involvement and general coverage on Internet privacy issues, many are starting to question how open they really want to be. The whole business of privacy and openess, brings the issue of ‘trust’ in to question and this questioning exercise is occurring at all ages. A recent study from Pew Internet shows that concerns about Internet security and privacy are rising.

Moreover, with the FCC’s investigation of the Apple/AT&T leak and Google’s media storm around street view camera’s and the accidental private data it picked up, we feel this topic won’t die easily. But despite the growing suspicions of Internet users, newspapers still placed high on the list when gauging trust. So to this we say, newspaper tag lines, slogans, advertising, value propositions, etc…, etc…, should start to play on this trust, privacy and protection fear factor. What could make this damaging for newspaper groups however, is if they go to a damaging extreme on living out the protectionist behaviours, which in many ways, and ironically, is a part of their air that breeds trust.

If publishers are listening to the well publicized privacy concerns and interpreting the messages for their benefit, they could prove to gain.