Will You Pay for Your News? The New York Times Is Counting on It

We are a spoiled bunch. With just the punch of the enter button on your keyboard you are seconds away to the answer to any question you may have. How much does it cost to buy a condo in Long Island City? How many calories are in kumquats? What the heck is ROI? Online users are accustomed to unlimited access to free information on the web. With social networking sites like Twitter, it is possible to get updates on the latest news events, in 140 characters or less. That is part of the reason why the New York Times’ new business plan is causing such a stir. The New York Times plans to charge its most loyal readers, readers who will not doubt go over the set amount of free articles each month. Don’t worry just yet, the plan won’t kick in until 2011.

From a purely business standpoint, it makes sense that a newspaper of the Times’ size would charge people to read its content, but as we know, the online world works differently than the print world. If you want the print version sent to your door everyday, you expect to pay for it; however if you want to read the online version every morning before you check your email, you expect it to be free. I mean why not? Most everything else is free online.

The prevalent business model for online media has generally been to offer free content to readers and to rely on advertising dollars in order to stay afloat. This has put some strain on well-established and new publications alike. Staff writers are getting cut and freelance writers are making less money, hence the reason most writers are turning to unconventional methods to support themselves. There is no doubt that media is changing, as it has many times before, people just have to figure out a way to change with it. The question is, how do we do it?