Newspapers Consider Charging for Online Content

Questions Over Whether Readers Will Pay for News Online or Say No

Nov 7, 2009

Some in journalism think newspapers must start charging to view their articles online. Papers already have begun experimenting with pay models to see readers' reaction.

Newspapers are having both an internal and external debate over whether they should be charging for their online content. Some already have taken that step and others are now considering it.

The New York Times, which a few years ago charged for access to its opinion pages, is deliberating whether to adopt a pay structure again. Among those saying most adamantly that the Times should follow this course are some of its readers.

New York Times Readers Offer to Pay for Online Newspaper Content

When the newspaper announced it was cutting 100 staff positions, many expressed willingness in comments on its Web site to pay for online access to the Times. Some recommended charging for a premium service, around $9.99 a month, to enable readers to have access to all content and just putting headlines online. Others called for more subscription options such as only ordering the paper on certain days of the week or making the site free to print subscribers and charging non-subscribers—similar to the current Wall Street Journal model.

Some readers even urged the Times to let them decide after they read particular articles whether to pay for them. Such a system could be part of setting up an account, for say $50 a year, to get content from a consortium of providers or publishers in a network of newspapers.

Aside from articles, those with an account also could opt for podcasts or interactive graphics. A portion of their money would be directed to the content creators and any remaining amount of their yearly payment could be divided internally by the consortium.

Wall Street Journal Model for Online Content Includes Combination of Paid and Free Articles

Alan Murray, executive editor of the Wall Street Journal Online, has offered ways to charge for content, including having a combination of paid and free material but not charging for the most popular content on a site.

For a period of time, the Journal did not charge for subscription content obtained through the Apple iPhone. But that has now changed with mobile readers having to pay for full access. The price differs for mobile-only subscriptions and a combination mobile and print or online subscription.

With this move, mobile readers of the Journal will be able to receive business-to-business news, enhanced market data, and stock tracking from Dow Jones and Co., as well as more customized data.

The Dallas Morning News, for one, is looking at possibly charging those going to its site or becoming a member of a newspaper network that would impose charges as a single entity.

Newspapers May Follow Similar Path to Cable TV in Charging For Previously Free Content

In October, Newsday began charging $5 a week for online content. Full access otherwise is only available for print subscribers and customers of the newspaper’s Optimum Online, which is part of Cablevision. Peter Funt, writing in the November 4, 2009 Boston Globe, thinks newspapers in the digital arena may follow a path similar to cable and pay television in charging for what traditionally had been free content.

Aside from the Wall Street Journal, others turning to a pay model on their sites include the Financial Times, the Newport Daily News in Rhode Island, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which charges for some of its Green Bay Packers coverage.

MediaNews Group plans to offer a combination of free and paid content online for two of its smaller newspapers, the Enterprise-Record in Chico, California, and the York Daily Record in York, Pennsylvania, Joe Strupp reported in the November 3, 2009 Editor and Publisher in “MediaNews To Launch Partial Pay Walls At Two Newspaper Sites.” The response could determine whether the company may charge for content in its larger papers such as the Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News.

"The party is getting bigger, but some papers are already saying they’ll stay away,” Nat Ives wrote in the October 26, 2009 Advertising Age in “Newspapers Grapple With How -- or Even Whether -- to Erect a Pay Wall.” “And now Journalism Online, a company established this year to help newspapers experiment with pay models, is poised to send software to some ‘beta publishers’ by early December.”

“Some newspapers, on the other hand, are getting into charging by building new sites with additional offerings,” Ives said. “At the end of August, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette and The Tuscaloosa News each introduced new sites for paying members only: PG+ in Pittsburgh and TideSportsExtra in Tuscaloosa.”

The copyright of the article Newspapers Consider Charging for Online Content in Newspaper Industry is owned by John Seidenberg. Permission to republish Newspapers Consider Charging for Online Content in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.