One of the most hotly debated issues in the news business right now is whether paywalls - in which news websites charge for access to their content - can work. Naysayers say they can't and compare charging for online news to trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. Others say paywalls can and must work if news websites are to survive financially, given that ad revenues from print journalism are on the decline. Here you'll find articles on this debate, including examples of where paywalls have actually ben tried.
The Era of Free News Websites Is Ending
It was nice while it lasted, but now it's time to say goodbye to the era of free news content on the web. Hit hard by the recession, newspapers and other news outlets have no choice but to start charging readers to use their websites.Publishers Uneasy About Charging for Web Content, But Are Willing To Try It
A survey says nearly 60 percent of U.S. newspapers are considering charging for their web content. But the same survey says only 51 percent of newspaper publishers think doing do will actually work.Tech Firms Developing Ways Papers Can Charge for Online Content
Google to the rescue of the news biz? Maybe. It turns out high-tech companies are developing ways for beleaguered newspapers to charge for their online content.Why Can't Paywalls Work?
Many of the same experts who once predicted that online ads would foot the bill for a brave new world of Internet journalism are trying to convince us that we shouldn't try to make people pay for online news, that paywalls, as they're called, are bound to fail. Paywalls are a hopelessly outmoded concept, they say, an analog solution for a digital age. But how do they know?A News Website Paywall That Helps Keep Readers Buying the Newspaper
It's practically gospel among media gurus that charging for online news won't work. Too bad no one told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Little Rock-based daily has had a paywall around its website since 2002, long before most other papers had even thought of charging for online content.How Can Newspapers Remain Profitable in the Digital Media Age?
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter Hussman explains how his paper continues to be profitable. The formula is simple: Readers actually pay subscription fees to read the paper and companies actually pay money - good money - to advertise in the paper, yes paper, otherwise known as that low-tech stuff called newsprint.Paywall Naysayers Forget About the Importance of Local News
One of the most common arguments against news website paywalls is what I call the infinite replication assertion. Sounds complicated, but all it means is this: No one will pay for online news, because any story that a subscriber-only site does will be quickly replicated by an infinite number of free websites and blogs.Murdoch & Huffington Spar in Debate Over Charging for Online News
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and HuffingtonPost founder Arianna Huffington duke it out at a workshop on the future of journalism, with Murdoch arguing that news outlets must charge for online content and Huffington proclaiming that online news is destined to be free. Who's right? Murdoch.Study Seems to Indicate Metered Newspaper Website Paywalls Can Work
Much to the chagrin of media pundits who said they'd never work, it's becoming increasingly clear that paywalls for newspaper websites are going to be a part of the digital media future. And a new study seems to indicate they can work just fine, thank you.
