It seems clear: The future of news is online, and printed newspapers appear headed for extinction. But the picture isn't that simple. Printed newspapers make less money than they used to, but they're still far more profitable than news websites, and until that changes, papers will be around. Meanwhile, news organizations, hit hard by the recession, are considering whether to start charging for their online content. And a battle is brewing between publishers that produce news stories and the aggregators who make money by linking to them. Here you'll find the latest developments on all of this.
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. All the signs are there that change is coming, and coming soon: News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch says his company's news websites will soon start charging users for access. The New York Times is reportedly mulling different options for charging for its online content. And MediaNews Group Inc., owner of the Denver Post and 53 other daily newspapers in 11 states, says it plans to start charging for some of its web content. Why the switch?
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. Confused? Me too. But I suspect that both findings are correct. Publishers aren't sure online pay walls will work, but they're so desperate to generate revenue that they're willing to try them anyway.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. Google, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle all responded to a request by the Newspaper Association of America for proposals on ways to charge for online news. Google in particular is developing a micropayment system - an extension of Google Checkout.
New York Times Mulls Options for Charging for Web Content
The New York Times is considering two options for charging for its online content, The New York Observer reports. One option is a meter system where readers could use the Times website for free until they hit a predetermined limit based on word-count or pageviews. After that, the meter would start running and readers would be charged. Option no. 2 is a membership system in which readers would pledge money to the site and be invited into a "New York Times community." In addition to web access, members might receive gifts like Times merchandise.Old and New Media Clash At Senate Hearing on Future of Newspapers
So the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the future of newspapers, which these days is about as oxymoronic a subject heading as you’re likely to find. There was the predictable new media/old media split between Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post proclaiming the virtues of the brave new world of online journalism, and James Moroney, publisher of the beleaguered (what paper isn’t?) Dallas Morning News, bemoaning the current state of affairs. But the most alarming and yet ultimately inspiring testimony came from David Simon, an ex-Baltimore newspaperman who drew upon his experiences as an ink-stained city reporter to produce the acclaimed series “The Wire.”
Murdoch & Huffington Spar in Debate Over Charging for Online News
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and HuffingtonPost founder Arianna Huffington duked it out Tuesday 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. Sure, it would be a wonderful world - and a real utopia for news junkies - if online news sites could remain free, but they can't. Why not? Because as Murdoch pointed out at the workshop (held by the Federal Trade Commission), news isn't free.
The Conflict Between Aggregators and Online News Sites
You're probably familiar with the legal battle between the music industry and websites that allow surfers to download music. There's a somewhat similar fight going on between news websites and the so-called aggregators. Aggregators gather headlines and snippets of news stories from news websites, then put links to those stories on their own sites. Aggregators can be search engines, like Google News, or websites such as The Huffington Post. But news websites increasingly complain that the aggregators make lots of money, in the form of ad revenue, off of the news stories they link to, but don't share those revenues with the news sites that actually produce those stories.Google to Let News Sites Limit Free Website Access
Newspaper publishers have long complained that Google rakes in mountains of cash by indexing news stories. Now, in a conciliatory gesture, Google is allowing publishers to set a daily cap on how many articles readers can access for free through the search engine. The company said it will let publishers limit readers to five free articles per day while still allowing news stories to appear in search results.A Profile of Huffington Post, Accused By Some of Stealing News Content
Huffington Post is flashy. It's sexy. It combines gaudy tabloid excess with erudite commentary by some of the country's brightest stars in the worlds of politics, entertainment, business and journalism. And it's one of the most popular blogs on the planet, drawing millions of visitors and pageviews every month. But HuffPo, as it's known, has also sparked controversy with its practice of excerpting articles from other news sites. Some have even accused HuffPo of stealing.
