I usually don’t make quick hits on a topic, but I just read a post on Reflections of a Newsosaur that made my blood pressure rise.
This sums up his opinion best:
“If we are going to save the tradition of professional journalism, it is vital for publishers to begin producing content that is sufficiently unique, authoritative and valuable to motivate”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Your editors is probably thinking “damn right!”. We do that everyday, set up the pay wall now!
Resist the temptation. If you read his full post he does make some compelling arguments and even admits that not every market is capable of charging for its content. But your management will overlook that little caveat.
Newspaper web sites must shift their primary focus from connecting people-to-content to connecting people-to-people first, a.k.a. social networking. This is how news is going to get consumed as well as generate new revenue. Will this revenue support the current newsrooms? Highly unlikely. News organizations need to restructure. Many are being forced to through layoffs.
We need creative minds to think of new ways to monetize the changing media landscape. Attempts to setup pay walls is nothing more than last gasp efforts to retain a dying business model in a new media world.
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