If you caught the news the other day that the New York Times plans to start charging for frequent online readership in 2011, you probably also know that this idea seems as dangerous to some critics as barbed wire once seemed to Western ranchers.<\/p>\n
“This won’t work,” concluded one commenter on the Media Decoder blog written by the NYT’s David Carr.<\/p>\n
Via Twitter, another man posted several updates declaring he would never pay and saying how angry he was at the Times for proposing this. (I’m guessing he finds the Web site useful.)<\/p>\n
But amid the criticism was encouragement from others who said they valued the Times online, would gladly pay and wondered why it was taking so long to begin charging.<\/p>\n
Such comments echo suggestions and outright entreaties I hear often from readers who want Bee journalism to remain strong or improve, and who don’t like seeing the effects of advertising revenue declines on our operation.<\/p>\n
Some ask if they can pay extra; others encourage us to stop offering Bee content online for free. These aren’t simple questions, since advertising (including online ad dollars) still accounts for most of The Bee’s revenue. Still, we’re all tuned in to the paid content discussion.<\/p>\n
The New York Time’s plan, announced Wednesday, involves “metering” usage. Readers would be allowed to view a certain number of stories or links free before being asked to sign in as paid users.<\/p>\n
There’s nothing new about either charging online readers or about the polarized debate as to whether that will work. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, among internationally known titles, and many other smaller newspapers, specialized magazines and Web sites work on a subscription model.<\/p>\n
The argument boils down to a question that faces anyone trying to provide reliable, accurate news and information – small startups and major media companies alike. How do you pay for such coverage, not just this week or next month, but for the longer term?<\/p>\n
The trite saying that information online “wants to be free” overlooks reality.<\/p>\n
Good coverage is not done for free, at least not on any sustainable level. Someone pays.<\/p>\n
The Bee’s best stories take dozens of hours, sometimes months of work. While there’s much talk from people who consider news a “commodity,” original reporting is increasingly scarce and still provided in great part by newspapers, as a recent Pew study showed.<\/p>\n
Definitions of news are changing. Some news is what happened today: that’s the commodity part. But research and reporting, along with intelligent analysis, number crunching and storytelling craft, are not commodities.<\/p>\n
The debate over how to pay for journalism or other specialized information isn’t only for people in the business. It’s also not just about journalism, as TV and movie companies begin to struggle with their own version of the Internet shift to free content.<\/p>\n
All kinds of ideas are being tried, some involving volunteer or community contributors with professional moderation and others focused on subscriptions for specialized content. Nonprofit foundations are funding experimental newsrooms, and news organizations including The Bee are redefining how our journalism serves readers whose lives and habits are being reshaped by new technology.<\/p>\n
The Bee’s answer has been to focus on quality and on coverage we provide that can’t be found elsewhere; on original reporting, including investigative work, that provides real value in our community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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