Murdoch says papers should charge on Web

"The question is, should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyright... not steal, but take," said Murdoch. "Not just them but Yahoo."

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is expected to discuss this topic when he speaks at the Newspaper Association of America's annual conference in San Diego next week.

Separately, Murdoch said he is still "slightly pessimistic" about the economy and said he does not see things returning to previous levels for another two to three years. The recession, along with hurting newspapers, has contributed to ad revenue declines at News Corp's U.S. local television business too.

Murdoch also talked about the financial industry's help in sparking the world economic crisis. While there have been some well publicized excesses by some executives, he said, the U.S. government should go easy on regulation.

"We need to get an SEC that's awake and maybe a few more regulations but not too many," he said.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)