Sunday, Nov 22, 2009

(This story was originally published Thursday.)

By Nat Worden

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--News Corp. (NWSA) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said Thursday that the globalization of media presents opportunities for the industry even as it navigates the uncertainties posed by the rise of digital media.

"Our aim must be to enhance the lives of our customers and citizens, and yet we find ourselves in the midst of an information revolution that is both exciting and unsettling," Murdoch said in videotaped remarks promoting an upcoming media industry conference that will take place in Abu Dhabi.

"It is a digital revolution turning traditional business models upside down; traversing geographic, industrial, and media boundaries; and creating a new source of wealth, material and social, around the world," said Murdoch, whose company has operations on every continent across all media platforms.

Murdoch's comments came from a transcript of the video.

The Abu Dhabi Media Summit will take place in March 2010, and attendees will include Murdoch, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong.

Murdoch noted that in emerging economies, like India and China, hundreds of millions of people are entering the middle class and becoming consumers of news and entertainment.

"Abu Dhabi sits at the nexus--of East and West, of developing and developed, of our media present and our future," he said.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

22-11-09 0347GMT