Power is moving away from old media elite says Murdoch

"Power is moving away from the old elite in our industry -- the editors, the chief executives and, let's face it, the proprietors," he said.

"A new generation of media consumers has risen, demanding content when they want it, how they want it, and very much as they want it."

He predicted that the media would continue to play the same role it has throughout history of empowering people through knowledge, but that today's news organisations would only endure by creating content in media that suit the reader.

Of all media, Murdoch recognised the internet as the "prime media channel for information, entertainment, business and social contact", directly referring to MySpace, the social networking site recently acquired by News Corp for $580m, as an example of its rapid development.

However, the magnate soon returned to his humble stance, telling his audience that they "must be prepared to take risks and accept that we will make mistakes, sometimes very large ones".

In laying out the case to embrace change, the head of the TV, movies, newspaper and book publishing empire, posed some of the unanswered questions that may be keeping him awake at night.

"When high-speed broadband pipes TV and film onto enhanced computer screens at home, what happens to the television companies, the film studios and indeed newspapers?" he asked.

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