Well, it's finally happened - timesonline.co.uk is now redirecting to thetimes.co.uk, which has a registration wall, soon to be a paywall after the free trial period is axed.
As much as I like The Times, I would only chose to pay for access if it meant I could hide the ignorant and inflammatory comments that now plague almost every piece of professional journalism in existence. Until then, I will continue reading the free paper copy in the staff room, and create a new bookmark to guardian.co.uk.
Paywalling news sites is a brave move - I really can't see it working that well if there is one decent free news site out there.
I tend to frequent Auntie's Beeb News site or El Reg.
I like the idea of Peter Sunde's Flattr mode of micro payment, I'd consider micropaying for useful / informative articles - well if I could afford any more outgoing at the moment.
With the huge amount of news sites on the net, I can't see this working out too well for them. £2 a week isn't much, but with sites like the BBC News site, Sky News, CNN, and news aggregation sites like Digg, Slashdot, Reddit etc..., I just can't see a huge number of people paying.
Let's see how long it lasts.
You should add this one too...Originally Posted by AngryTechnician
http://guardian.gyford.com/
Murdoch should be doing what The Guardian are doing, not put up a paywall. It's his loss really, since there are plenty of other places to get news on the 'net.
Last edited by Arthur; 16th June 2010 at 08:44 AM.
That's nice - but the Guardian is run by trust which subsidises its massive losses from more popular titles and other income streams. I like the Guardian and read it everyday (in paper form) and want it to continue - so it needs to be paid for somewhere down the line...
I prefer the Guardian but I did read a fair few bits on the Times site. Shame
Unfortunately we cant just expect it to be free...if people stop buying the actual papers then who is paying for the online content? That said, I dont really agree with the Times approach
It's a very interesting experiment. At some point, all the people who provide "free content" have to work out how to pay for it. I'm not sure how the newspapers that have free websites will continue to survive - I don't know how much income they can generate from advertising and promotions on site. Given that most print newspapers are not making much profit they can't afford to pay for the websites for ever.
Murdoch, on the other hand, has quite a lot of money. One of the reasons I've heard that News International wants to buy total control of Sky is so that he can use the money from that to subsidise the papers and websites (and eventually he just takes control of the planet!)
The issue of comments on a web site is interesting - @jinnantonnix; points out that some people like reading them and this will bring people to a web site. You then have lots of free content to attract visitors (which is partly why Edugeek works so well - the vast majority of content here is contributed by people who do it for free and other people want to read that content because it's good)
Can I recommend AJE - Al Jazeera English ?
I don't often read the Al Jazeera website but their TV news is generally pretty good - it's always interesting to see an "international" perspective on news
Agreed about comments - they're one of my favourite parts of any online paper. It adds a layer of interactivity that you cant get in a 'real' newspaper. Obviously it attracts a lot of idiiots but they usually provide a laugh.
In fact I'm so sad that if theres a big news story that I know the Mail will be up in arms about, I sometimes go to their website and rate the comments (usually the well balanced liberal views are about 500 down, and the hysterical right wing ones 500 up, nice to help redress the balance!)
The Sun is thinking about doing the same too (not sure if thats public information, but I've just made it public if not). Who'd pay for that.
Generally who, with half an ounce of common sense would pay for any of that information when its available anywhere else for nothing. And there's no extra hard work involved.
i suppose it depends on what your paying for. If your paying for comment is one thing, but presumably the reporting of news is and will be freely available from a variety of sources on the net.
The comment and the articles that go beyond just reporting of the news, me personally it's not often i find anything all that insightful from any of the major british newspapers with an online presence. The most insightful and educational comment that i come across is on some of the blogs i follow.
Exactly - I've never visited a newspaper's site other than following someone else's links, and that will never change. However beforehand that's because you'll only get half the story - if you want the other half, buy the paper (as they want you to). Or, just find the full news story from more reputable and freely available sources
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