It’s an old(ish) story: print newspapers are dying, and the Internet is the best chance for recovery. Problem with the Internet is that everyone wants something for nothing, but companies can’t afford to provide news without paying subscribers. Prevailing wisdom is to erect a paywall, letting visitors read some articles each month and requiring a paid subscription for more access.
Prevailing wisdom does not imply uniformity, and sites are still experimenting to find the perfect method. For example, the New York Times offers visitors the chance to read any 10 articles they like before asking visitors to become digital subscribers, and The Chronicle of Higher Education chooses which articles to make available publicly and freely while requiring a subscription to read the rest. Now, the Los Angeles Times website has instituted a paywall of its own, built on the any-article model of the NYTimes.com but with fewer workarounds.
Links to LA Times articles from social networking sites count towards a month’s quota of 15 free articles, but follow a NY Times link on Twitter or Facebook and you can read it even if you already hit the allowable limit. This porousness is inbuilt to the NYTimes.com paywall as a strategic decision to promote the brand, going so far as to permit simple hacks to circumvent the paywall for dedicated readers who cannot or will not subscribe. The LA Times, however, erect more rigid terms with additional benefits, like offering free or discounted admission to events.
At least for local papers, it is cool to offer perks that can build community, but subsidizing news with other goods seems misplaced from a business perspective. If information really wants to be free, a more permeable wall that can be bypassed when circumstances arise seems a better option.
Creative Commons Love: Casey David on Flickr.
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