Shhhh. Newspaper Publishers Are Quietly Holding a Very, Very Important Conclave Today. Will You Soon

Shhhh. Newspaper Publishers Are Quietly Holding a Very, Very Important Conclave Today. Will You Soon Be Paying for Online Content?

correspondents.theatlantic.com

Here's a story the newspaper industry's upper echelon apparently kept from its anxious newsrooms: A discreet Thursday meeting in Chicago about their future.



"Models to Monetize Content" is the subject of a gathering at a hotel which is actually located in drab and sterile suburban Rosemont, Illinois; slabs of concrete, exhibition halls and mostly chain restaurants, whose prime reason for being is O'Hare International Airport. It's perfect for quickie, in-and-out conclaves.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Rupert Murdoch was talking about this in the UK media a few weeks ago where he stated that they may start to charge for people to read the times and sun websites, it makes you wonder though is this just a way for them to make more money or is it actually a way for the elite to control who finds out the information that is embarrassing to them by pricing the great unwashed from the market?

correspondents.theatlantic.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by solidshot


IMHO...this idea is doomed to fail simply because we like stuff FREE and we can get it anywhere. They think their content would be protected? Give me a break. All it takes is one person with an account to copy-paste to a blog or other site and voila. Also, using google cache you can bypass login requirements for many sites.



[edit on 28-5-2009 by warrenb]

They can screw themselves. I don't trust the MSM anyway, and would rather find out whats going on around the world by people twittering, vlogging, and the like. The Times and there brethren can sell their lies to the gullible.

Seems stupid to try to pull this now when the global economic crisis is about to be in full swing. Hmmm...gallon of milk, and a loaf of bread? or what is Britney and Lindsey doing? I'll choose the food.

The newspapers are starting to realise that their business model flawed.
They need to have a fresh business model, most senior staff like in the publishing industry are back in the stone age. Many newspapers are starting to produce their own video clips and are trying to compete with TV.

Why will people want to pay for a badly rewritten AP story?

I think it's only fair that people who buy the newspaper in paper format should be able to read it online too. Do you think they will have an access code printed inside?

Also mentioned is about charging other companies for their content, but if people can't see the content then they lose ad revenue.

I can see some take overs happening very soon and this is a last ditch attempt to save their industry. It's interesting that they are all doing this at the same time.

I did like the comment at the bottom.

Newspapers aren't critical to democracy, journalism is.

Here's a simple solution to their money problem. Charge all internet users $1 extra / mo. & divide the money based on % click-throughs to each news portal, keeping professional news & journalism free.

Originally posted by Xtraeme
Here's a simple solution to their money problem. Charge all internet users $1 extra / mo. & divide the money based on % click-throughs to each news portal, keeping professional news & journalism free.

And how is it free then?

Surcharges never stop at $1. Terrible idea.

Originally posted by FrankWhite222

Originally posted by Xtraeme
Here's a simple solution to their money problem. Charge all internet users $1 extra / mo. & divide the money based on % click-throughs to each news portal, keeping professional news & journalism free.

And how is it free then?

Surcharges never stop at $1. Terrible idea.

You do realize it's never been "free" right? There are degrees of "free." For instance I can pay a monthly subscription fee; I can read a newspaper article online where there are advertisements; I can bum a print magazine off a friend who paid for his copy; and on and on.

The idea is to find a "degree of free" that's not too costly, simple, promotes competition, and allows the varying media organizations to stay in business.

If you have a better idea, by all means, I'd love to hear it.

[edit on 28-5-2009 by Xtraeme]

reply to post by warrenb

I hear you. Although,
I'm not condoning piracy but.... think of all the things easily available for free that the majority of people pay money for. Itunes, games etc etc I think th egeneral public will pay 20pence a day for their online Sun or whatever.