Category: Media Industry Author : Duncan Riley Posted: February 28, 2009
Tags : hearst, newspapers
The Hearst Corporation has announced that it will start charging for some content on its newspaper sites, following a lead set by Cablevision earlier this week who announced a similar move for Newsday.
The amount to be charged by Hearst for the content, and what content will be hidden behind the paywall was not specified.
Hearst publishes the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Albany Times Union, and has interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers. The company also owns television assets, and publishes 200 magazines including Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine.
Why stop at only part of the content though? I hope they make all of their content paid only, and I hope all other newspapers follow the lead.
Why? because it will drive their readers to other sites, including blogs, and that’s good for business if you’re in the web publishing business.
It might also once and for all prove that the blogosphere doesn’t need newspapers as a primary source of news, one of the myths constantly spread by mainstream media haters.
Bring it on. Take your content away newspapers. Make my day, and I’ll help you dig the hole you’ll been buried in sooner rather than later.
Feb 28, 2009
It's the anti-establishment nature of self-proclaimed “serious” bloggers, the inferiority complex of being an “outsider” looking into the professional journalism world, that has made you so bitter towards newspapers.
Journalism is a professional career, whether you care or not. Charging for content built on hours of hard work and dedication is a business model to put food on the table of journalists who are out there covering their beats and doing good work.
I'm sorry that you can't (or won't) see that.
Feb 28, 2009
If all the MSM pulled their stuff, the blogosphere would be marshmallow fluff and hot air. The “myth? that the blogosphere doesn't need MSM. The blogosphere is the rat sneaking in through the hole of the aggregators to eat the crops planted by others. If you didnt have MSM to riff off of, no one would read you. No one.
Mar 1, 2009
Right. You don't need newspapers to write this blog. You're an idiot. Who do you think first reported this story? Not you. No, you merely stole the story and made it your own. What will you write about when newspapers no longer provide you with content you can swipe? You're full of s**t.