NEWSPAPERS will have to adopt a multimedia strategy, embracing mobile phones, iPods and even PlayStation Portables, if they are to survive in the digital era.

The prediction was made by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, parent company of The Times, in a speech last night at the Stationers’ livery company in London.

Mr Murdoch, who turned 75 at the weekend, said that newspapers would have to use new technology to engage readers in what he described as an era in which “media becomes like fast food”. In the future, readers and viewers will consume “news, sport and film clips on the go” on devices such as “Sony’s PSP, or others already in test by our satellite companies” such as BSkyB, the broadcaster in which News Corp holds a 37.2 per cent stake.

Mr Murdoch said: “Crucially, newspapers must give readers a choice of accessing their journalism in the pages of the paper, or on websites such as Times Online or — and this is important — on any platform that appeals to them, mobile phones, handheld devices, iPods, whatever.” The new consumer trends also meant that power was shifting, away from “the old elite in our industry — the editors, the chief executives, and let’s face it, the proprietors ” and towards a “new media audience” who were using the internet and new technology “to inform, entertain and above all to educate themselves”.

Mr Murdoch’s comments were part of a wide-ranging speech, titled The New Age of Discovery, an era in which “the fusion of technology and science allied to the natural creativity embedded in the human spirit will enable us to surmount the dangers we undoubtedly face”.

Summing up the threats, Mr Murdoch revealed his own political thinking. Echoing the language of President Bush, he asked: “Can we find victory over a new and harrowing form of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam?” He answered the rhetorical question trenchantly: “We should not fool ourselves. There are no civilians and no chance of a negotiated peace in this war.”

There was also a warning about “unstable regimes in North Korea and Iran that are bent on, and very close to, developing nuclear weapons” as well as questions about how “the old nations of Europe cope with the economic rise of nations such as China and India”.

However, despite the perceived shift in power in which “newspapers may become news sites”, Mr Murdoch said that history showed that changes in technology do not eliminate media that began life in another era — implying that the current climate of rapid change is nothing new.

“Radio did not destroy newspapers, television did not destroy radio, and neither eliminated the printing of books.” He added: “Each wave of new technology in our industry forced an improvement in the old.”

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