The Times and Sunday Times have broken ranks by announcing they will start charging for their online editions from June according to Rupert Murdoch’s News International. Users will pay £1 for a day’s access or £2 for a week’s subscription. Though a near pioneering move the announcement was not entirely unexpected. Doubtless, Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks in describing the move as an ‘economically exciting proposition’ had her fingers crossed behind her back.
National and local newspapers across the world are facing their most radical restructuring in history; scores fold weekly as advertisers migrate to online advertising. Cutbacks have led to hundreds of journalists being invited to clear their desks. Falling circulation and higher production costs make matters worse whilst increasing numbers of readers save time and money by reading their favourite newspaper online.
Very little news content today is gathered by reporters; most of what we read is downloaded free from court and local authority reports. Much else is editorial-advertising and product reviews. Why pay a journalist when you can charge an advertiser? Another threat to traditional reporting is posed by citizen journalists; freelances who offer their services in return for lead gathering opportunities.
Few doubt the superiority of online newspapers compared to hard copy. The content of an online edition carries so much information and advertising a builder’s labourer couldn’t hope to carry it in a wheelbarrow if it went to print. It is not the Internet that threatens journalists’ careers; it is the nature of the change. They too are learning to adapt.
The Internet News Revolution
News organisations are still profitable but proprietors see the writing on the wall. As High Street retailers morph into Internet shopping the newspaper industry know that street vendor and newsagent distributed newspapers will follow typewriters into oblivion. The dilemma facing the industry is how best to profit by charging browsers who access their online editions.
Print and distribution costs are crippling news print editions; costs for online copy are comparatively low. Hard copy news is limited to local distribution; online has an international readership. Online newspapers do not have a space problem and deadlines are not an issue; the news is up to the minute and rolled out 24/7. However, in a click-driven competitive market online media increasingly relies on challenging and investigative journalists, columnists and event analysts.
Rupert Murdoch
Under the radar discussions are universal. Heading the agenda is the quest to discover the most practical means of getting readers to pay for their PC screen content without losing them. News magnate Rupert Murdoch already charges a subscription to access the Wall Street Journal’s insider information copy. He says: “People reading news for free on the web; that’s got to change.”
Recently it was announced that the tycoon has won a concession from Google to limit access to free news reports. It is called slamming the stable door before the horse bolts. Head of Associated Press, Tom Curley agrees: “The readers and viewers are going to have to pay more.” Others argue that viewers will simple not pay. The truth is no one knows as no one has been there before.
Hot off the Press
The Times website 2010
Of the Times and Sunday Times 20 million plus users 500,000 are now dependent upon their online edition and the gap is closing. Freelance journalist, Sandy Collins, doesn’t see a problem or fear for his job. “Some of my best stories have been blue pencilled out by hard copy newspapers because with limited space available the advertiser is king. Online publishing is a no-brainer. Everyone wins.”
He adds: “Newspaper proprietors’ costs are cut and their readership reaches a worldwide audience potential. As a journalist I now send my stuff to my online editors, knowing that if it is not published, it was not a space problem. If work is accepted according to merit then of course this must improve news quality. It must also improve opportunities for writers.”
Collins says his online newspaper proprietor has an insatiable appetite for fast turnover of quality and originality. “He wants my take on breaking news now, not next week or next month.
“What I produce in the morning is being read by the public hours later. You don’t get much fresher than that. A recent report of mine had 7,000 readers within hours of my blotting it.”
Ominously for those of us who have enjoyed free access to online news Ms Brooks adds: “This is just the start. The Times and the Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach.”
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Both those “Newspapers” are indoctrination, lying, brainwashing, lie publishing rags. The editor does not let you form your own opinion, he/she gives you your opinion. There will be a cold day in hell when I pay to read their lies! I don’t think the idea will pay off for these Zionist propaganda publishers. The death of these two pieces of trash will make a glorious day.