I was going to write today about some interesting historical things that have been forgotten, such as a Jewish Cemetery in East LA, or how forgotten gaming magazines such as the General are finding new life on the Internet. But instead, there’s a new issue nagging at me: Paywalls.
Those of you who remember my writing a few years ago remembered that I drew heavily from the New York Times. Today, I rarely cite the time, because they introduced a metered paywall. I thought about paying, but their rate of $3.99 a week was far too expensive when you added it up. You might note I cite the LA Times heavily even though they have a paywall. This is because I subscribe to the paper version of the LA Times, and that gives me digital access.
This week, word came about about more papers going to the paywall model. The San Francisco Chronicle has added a paywall; some, but not all, articles will be on SFGate. However, many of those will point to the full version behind the paywall. The Orange County Register is adding a complete paywall. The Sacramento Bee already has a paywall for some material. The San Diego U-T has a paywall.
Nationally, the Gannett papers have added paywalls (except USA Today, which they’ve redesigned to make unreadable). The Washington Post is adding a paywall. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch may add a paywall. The Chicago Tribune has a paywall. Expect it soon at your local regional paper, if it is of any size.
I understand why papers are doing this: the online advertising model is proving to be unworkable. To survive and be profitable, papers are doing what they can. However, I feel it is hurting the country. We are going back to a model where people will primarily get their news from a local, slanted, media voice (combined with bloggers who are not trained journalists). Before paywalls, one could read a number of different sources, draw a line down the middle, and determine a more unvarnished truth. That’s much harder.
Plus, it will be much harder to learn what is going on elsewhere in the country. USA Today was revolutionary in that they provided news for the entire country — yes, just one paragraph, but that was more local news than you often got. That’s getting much harder, although you can go to the sites for the local TV stations — but they don’t provide as much in-depth written reporting.
I’m sad to see the paywalls go up. I know it will certainly impact where I go for news.
Music: Elaine Stritch At Liberty (2002 Original Broadway Cast) (Elaine Stritch): “The Ladies Who Lunch”
It’s already affected my reading. Like you, I don’t read NY Times articles as often now.
Where it’s really hurt me has been my hometown. There are two newspapers in the city nearest where I grew up: a broadsheet and a tabloid. I almost never read the broadsheet’s web site any more, because I can only read 10 articles a month without paying…for a while, I could read the tabloid’s site, but they too have gone to a paywall (though there’s has some articles free and others, well-labelled as SUN+ limited to ten free per month).
It’s hard to justify paying much for the news of my hometown, especially when I don’t even live in the same country, so even the national news is of limited effect on my life today. Fortunately, I tend to be able to follow Canada quite well from the CBC, but its web site does less well, in my opinion, for local and regional news.
I wonder if you’ll see networks of newspapers where having a subscription to one gives you a subscription to all of them.
That would be nice, but it would most likely happen on those with shared ownership (such as the LA Times and Chicago Trib), which means you would see the same stories.