The argument over newspapers charging for their online content has been rumbling on pretty much since the first newspapers hit the web in the mid 1990s. It seems we're no nearer a resolution in what can a near-religious debate, something highighted by two interesting pieces which appeared online in the last few days.
In the Online Journalism Review Donn Friedman, of the Albuquerque Journal, explains why he took his site to a subscription model. He says it's been a great success - 35,000 print subscribers have signed up to use the site, and 2,000 people are paying $8 a month, or $60 a year, for online access only (the print paper has a Sunday circulation of 156,000). That is, he says, more than $100,000 created in new revenues.
Over at Digital Deliverance, online news consultant Vin Crosbie - as near to a veteran this young industry has - gets stuck in to Friedman's claims in a pretty strong point by point dissection. He suggests the Journal could be earning $1.4m if it was free to view, and also highlights the plight of the Irish Times' Ireland.com site, which went subscription-only to disastrous effect. "Avoid the latest online publishing vice," advises Crosbie. "There are many things for which newspapers can charge online, but access isn't one. The problem is the newspaper's content, not the newspaper giving it away for free." [via TechDirt]
