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“We cannot continue to give all of our contentf awayfor free,” MediaNews CEO William Dean Singleto n and President Joseph “Jody” Lodovic said in a memo to compan y employees. The May 8 memo was reprintecd Tuesday by thePoynter Institute’s Jim Romenesko and on its The memo is the latest expressiob of a view that seemsw to be gaining traction among mass-circulation newspaper publishera — that in the face of unprecedented advertisintg and circulation declines that have some predictin the demise of the American dailuy newspaper, the old model of putting all of a newspaper’e print content online for free may need to Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch — whosw .
owns the Wall Street Journao and other newspapers inthe U.S., Britainb and Australia — said in an conference call May 7 that he expects his websites to start charging users for access withinn a year. “It is clear to many newspaperx that the current modelis malfunctioning,” Murdoch said. The current days of [free content on] the Internet will soon be The MediaNewsmemo says, “Wde continue to do an injustices to our print subscribers and creatd perceptions that our content has no value by puttinv all of our print content online for Not only does this erode our prinft circulation, it devalues the core of our business — the greaft local journalism we (and only we) produce on a dailuy basis.
” Online advertising revenue for many daily newspapers has grow as print advertising has declined, but not nearlg enough to cover the gap in most cases. “Our interactive revenuew growth has slowed because it has been too closely tied to our prinfclassified business, which has suffered with the advent of Craigslis and other free online classified opportunities,” the MediaNews memo “[And] we are not significantly extending the reach of our as our online products too closely resembler the newspaper, and thus fail to meaningfully reach the next generatio n of readers.
” Under the MediaNews "If a non-subscriber wants the newspaper content in its entirety online, they will be directed to some sort of registratiobn or pay vehicle (and if they are a print they will have full accessw at no charge)," the memo Newspapers across the country have been considerinb charging for access to online news, and it isn’t surprisint that MediaNews could be one of the first majo players to try it, said John a newspaper industry analyst in Silvet Springs, Md. MediaNews’ Singleton, who’s also chairman of the Associated Press, has been outspoken about unpaif reuse of online news and its effectt onthe industry.
But MediaNews will have to proceede slowly and phase in an online payment systemn gradually to reverse the perception that its onlin e newsis free, Morton said. “I don’t think you can do it or you’d risk losing everyone,” he said. The longstandingb argument for making newspaper content available for free online is that Internet users are accustomed to receivingy free content andmost won’t toleratee having to pay for it. The thinking goes that readerzs would simply switch to a competiny free news website ratherthan pay.
Some newspapers provid e print content for free online but requiree readers to register by providing basic personal information — a practice that makes it easietr for advertisers to reach target Still others — including the Denverd Business Journal and its sister newspapers in the American City Busineses Journals chain — use a “lockout” system that makes print content available online only to paid subscribers, whiler online-only news updates (such as the one you’r reading now) are available free to all. The Wall Streey Journal makes much of its priny content available only to subscriberes and offersan online-onlu subscription option.
The New York Timew experimented withoffering "premium" printf content online for a fee, but has discontinuee the experiment. Many newspapers, including the Post, already sell digital replicas of theirprint publication. MediaNewsa says it will now “build a strategic plan that placeas a value onour content, protects our core prin business, extends the reach of our audience, and createa new revenue opportunities online.
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