Murdoch Places Pay Wall on Community Newspaper
The Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass., began putting some of its content behind a pay wall this week, the first community paper owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to charge for online news, reports Editor & Publisher.
In an announcement, Standard-Times Publisher Mary Harrington said the charge was a result of a change in the business model for newspapers, “and we need to change to reflect that.”
The paper allows free access to international and national news and up to 10 local stories a month. Beyond that, only a lead paragraph is displayed, along with a prompt to subscribe to online content.
Business experiments are always interesting. This one is without question.
The subscription fee is $3.37 per week for one year subscribers. That's $175.00 a year. A twelve week option is available for $40.50.
Posted by Robert Wenzel at 6:50 PM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
hope he goes broke
This will destroy his readership. With the internet, information is cheap, plentiful, and easily available. He can keep all his articles private, but anyone can report on world events. There are a dozen if not a hundred sources to get information as good, or better than his offer. What he is doing will be financial suicide. It's like a merchant raising their prices to try making up for low sales. It won't work.
It's always interesting watching an old business commit suicide. Sad, but interesting.
It's wonderful watching Rupert Murdoch wreck himself.
Yeah, I don't know about the suicide analogy. Think of what you do in your own profession; if you're good, you certainly don't do it for free.
If others can do it as well and willingly do it for free that's one thing, but odds are they aren't that good.
Raw information may be cheap, but insightful analysis, entertainment, and good writing never are.
Yeah, but since when has Murdoch's outfit ever provided news that featured "insightful analysis" presented with "good writing"???
I hope the mainstream media crash & burn---they deserve to, after the lies they've foisted upon us over this last decade.
sites like
http://www.WhatReallyHappened.com
are where it's at.
Bye, bye, Murdoch! We don't need you, and your lies!
Matter of fact, you need us more, than we need you! He, he.
if it;s from Murdoch it;s right wing lies and sensationalism while no real news is reported ever.
Pay for any of his rubbish? Never!
Call it Pay4Trash!
Charging might be ok, but I wouldn't pay more than a buck a month, if that. There's way too much competition on the Internet, with real news, and at his prices, his plan just won't fly.
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