News Fee

Heard on the radio yesterday that the Boston Globe has decided to charge a fee for the ability to read their on-line content. This has been the subject of much speculation and an on-line poll purportedly supporting the idea.

Decided to do some research on the subject and see what were people saying. Thanks to Google, I was able to find Editor & Publisher (a journal covering the newspaper industry) and find some interesting articles concerning the topic. One in particular reports, “The Globe notified union bosses that they will soon charge for on-line news”.  No specific date was given.

Editor & Publisher also reports that Rupert Murdoch (CEO of News Corporation) has stated, “The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive methods of distribution but it has not made content free. Accordingly, we intend to charge for all of our news web”.

Some more research was done which took me to PewResearch.org, who had some interesting data on how people get their news fix. The following is from PewResearch.org:

• 40 % of those polled reported they got the news from the Internet. Which was 5 % more than those who got theirs from the papers. Obviously, television leads the way.

Michael Wolff at Newser.com, had another interesting article on the subject. He makes some interesting points. Check it out. I might be biased but it fits my own opinion and thus I am citing it.

Time will tell if this is a good idea and I’m sure all the news entities will be watching but I’m not so sure how many people will be willing to pay, obviously with a credit card, to read the news. I can certainly see a segment of the population paying to read, but doesn’t that group already do so at the newsstand?

I for one was once someone who had to read the papers everyday. Woke up, walked to the machine and put my money in. I loved the feel and smell of a “fresh” paper. What’s going on, who won the game, who died etc. These were the things going on in my head as I walked back to my favorite spot to read them.

As times have gone by, I’ve been reading less and less of my local papers. One has become little more than tabloid fodder with car ads and the other has become so one-way politically and sanctimonious it’s hard to stomach.

I still enjoy the Sunday paper, always have and probably always will, but I will pay at the counter. For daily news I will surf the free sites or more American like just use my remote.