Saturday, January 08, 2005

Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism: NY Times to Charge for Online Viewing?

Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism: NY Times to Charge for Online Viewing?: " '# Reuters: New York Times Mulls Charging Web Readers. According to the upcoming issue of BusinessWeek magazine, whose cover story focuses on The New York Times Co., an internal debate has been raging at the newspaper over whether its online edition, which had about 18.5 million unique monthly visitors as of November, should adopt a subscription fee.'
I'd probably pay. Then again, I've been paying for Web journalism for years, for such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Salon and Consumer Reports (I even paid for Slate when it was charging). Part of my motivation has been to support online journalism. But part has been the value I received.
Would you pay for the Times online?"

Yeah, I'd (reluctantly) pay, and have also paid for my wsj.com subscription since 1996 (and even have a limited-edition Slate umbrella, as a Slate charter subscriber...); it'd be disappointing in terms of ramifications for my blog, however -- I frequently link to NYT articles.

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