Farewell, but not Goodbye!
14 years ago
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Paying for Online Content
While I am an avid reader of blogs, I am also a supporter of print journalism and other media sources. I would hope that newspapers and magazines can co-exist along with the online world of blogging, although at a lesser scale than in the pre-digital world. Recently it was announced that The New York Times would be beginning to charge for some of their online content as of June. Part of the reason blogs and getting the news online is so popular, besides its instantaneous nature and ease of access, is the fact that it is free. I wonder if this decision will actually hurt the newspaper, if online readers turn to other websites to read stories to avoid paying for it. Will this move help newspapers increase revenue, or has news gone the way of music and movies, where people will find a way to avoid having to pay for things they know they can freely access from somewhere else?
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I am also curious if charging for online access to the NYT will hinder its viewership. I am assuming that since the New York Times is such a "staple" newspaper, they will have many loyal readers who are more than willing to support and pay subscription fees. That being said, anyone who didn't look to the Times as their primary source of information prior to the adding of fees and only visited occasionally will most likely turn to other free news outlets, since many mainstream news stories are so similar these days anyways. Additionally, I wonder if there will be the general banner ads and occasional pop up advertisements alongside the articles if people log in through their subscription user name? Hopefully not!
ReplyDeleteI've heard others hypothesize as to what would happen if they monetized tweets (ie charged for every post to your account). I wonder if we would even stop using online media if it all cost money (pray they don't do this to facebook). Sadly advertising keeps most of it going for free which usually doesn't ensure journalistic integrity sadly. Im a huge fan of Lessig but in the case of free media, I think there are times where it could suffer if we don't...
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that by introducing a fee or a charge to view online content will hinder the newspapers viewers or followers. In todays day and age with so many different outlets available and so many different ways of obtaining information the need to pay for content is obscure. People will simply just go elsewhere to get their information thats what I'd do.
ReplyDeleteI doubt this would increase a companies revenue as very few will probably feel the need to continue with that specific outlet. And really isnt news content, or any content for that matter, developed to be shared? Why charge when the point is to spread what you ahve produced?