Murdoch's New Groove

Will it be on by the year-end?

Yes.

Google is being criticized for agreeing to censor itself in China. At home, it's fighting a federal subpoena for records on customer searches. What's your reaction?

All forms of government ultimately are not going to succeed in trying to control or censor the Internet. In China you can bar a certain word. But Google will still enable billions of people to get a great deal more knowledge and education, though it may not be political information. Still, all of that has to be good. China made a deliberate decision to let in the Internet. They felt it was necessary in joining the modern world. They are going to have to live with the consequences.

Google also has raised concerns about violating copyrights of TV shows and books. Your HarperCollins is a major publisher. Any concerns as a media owner?

HarperCollins and others will ensure that it doesn't infringe on copyrights. But I admire Google enormously. It's a great competitive force. The great thing about Google is the 56 [million] or 57 million ads that are coming from people who never advertised before--the local pizza store or shoemaker. There's been a huge democratization of both distribution and retailing.