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Guardian says introducing paywalls risks ‘sleepwalk into oblivion’
Guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 January 2010
The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has delivered a riposte to Rupert Murdoch's campaign to introduce paywalls to newspaper websites, claiming that it could lead the industry to a "sleepwalk into oblivion". Rusbridger said that universal charging for newspaper content on the internet would remove the industry from a digital revolution which is allowing news organisations to engage with their readers more than ever before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/guardian-editor-paywalls

New York Times website to charge
BBC News, 20 January 2010
The New York Times has announced that it is to charge for full access to its website from 2011, the latest newspaper to move in that direction.It said it will introduce a metered system, allowing readers free access to a limited number of articles, before charging for additional content.A similar online payment model has been introduced by the UK's Financial Times
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8470894.stm

Times Online blocks news aggregator
Guardian.co.uk, 8 January 2010
News International has told the aggregator, NewsNow.co.uk, that it may no longer link to any content on Times Online, and imposed a technical block by altering its robots.txt, the file through which a website can ask search engines not to index its pages. "News International has for some time been indicating to us that it would like us to refrain from linking to their content," said Struan Bartlett, managing director and chairman of NewsNow, who is sponsoring a campaign called right2link. "We have been trying to solicit from them their reason for wanting us to stop, but not other search engines. They haven't given us a reason that we understand."
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/08/digital-media-newspapers

Google technology to aid charging for online content
Telegraph, 10 September
GOOGLE admits for the first time developing technology that would assist newspapers in making money from website readers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6170225/Google-technology-to-aid-charging-for-online-content.html

Public rejects Murdoch view of BBC, says ICM poll
Julian Glover, Guardian, 4 September 2009
TRUST IN BBC grows despite attacks by Murdoch and politicians. Viewers and listeners are rallying around the BBC, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today. It shows rising levels of trust in the broadcaster and increased public support for the licence fee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/04/bbc-icm-poll-james-murdoch

The BBC is not the problem - it's an inability to let go of the past
Emily Bell
The Guardian, Monday 31 August 2009
NEWS CORPORATION clearly thinks that charging for content is a high-risk strategy, which is why Rupert Murdoch announced it a year in advance; a short history of business moves by News Corp demonstrates that on sure ground the organisation strikes with cobra-like speed. In essence, unless all other organisations of a similar ilk follow suit, the idea is hopeless. In fact, many (and I'm among them) think it is hopeless with or without the BBC…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/aug/31/charging-for-content-bbc

BBC should charge for website and other services, says chief of Channel 5
Telegraph, 31 August 2009
THE BBC SHOULD consider charging viewers for its website, the iPlayer and all services other than two television channels and "a couple of radio stations", Dawn Airey, the chief executive of Five, has suggested.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6115122/BBC-should-charge-for-website-and-other-services-says-Dawn-Airey.html

Murdoch Jr vs the man from Auntie: Sparks fly over BBC online
Independent, 30 August 2009
IN A PUBLIC DEBATE at the Edinburgh Television Festival, James Murdoch targeted the BBC's online operation, which he said is causing immense problems for the independent news business. And, in a clear signal that the Conservatives are increasingly in accord with the Murdoch world-view, the Opposition joined in the assault on the BBC website, raising objections to the millions the corporation is allowed to plough into its internet operation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/murdoch-jr-vs-the-man-from-auntie-sparks-fly-over-bbc-online-1779380.html

Murdoch attack on 'dominant' BBC
28 Aug 2009
NEWS CORPORATION'S James Murdoch has said that a "dominant" BBC threatens independent journalism in the UK. The chairman of the media giant in Europe, which owns the Times and Sun, also blamed the UK government for regulating the media "with relish". "The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision," Mr Murdoch said. He was giving the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival. (Should we laugh? - ed)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8227915.stm

The Future Of News Is Scarcity
Nic Brisbourne, PaidContent.org, 27 Aug 2009
THE INTERESTING thing about the news industry is that, when we examine it from the ground up, we quickly realize that it lost touch with its customers a long time ago, and that the model for the future will most likely look very different to what we are used to. The great tragedy of the newspaper industry in the late 20th Century was that, in the pursuit of profit, quality journalism became a dying art. Budgets were reduced, journalists were asked to write more stories per day and were given less time to check facts. At the same time, editors were instructed to avoid stories that might create controversy and the expense of lawsuits. The result was more and more bland articles recycled from paper to paper, more politically motivated editing and the collapse of public trust in the newspaper industry.
http://www.reuters.com/article/paiddealsAtoms/idUS23952247620090827

Why The Associated Press plans to hold some web content off the wire
Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
Zachary M. Seward, Aug 2009
IN A BREAK with tradition, The Associated Press plans to prevent members and customers from publishing some AP content on their websites. Instead, those news organizations would link to the content on a central AP website — a move that could upend the consortium’s traditional notions of syndication.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/08/why-the-associated-press-plans-to-hold-some-web-content-off-the-wire/

Why Murdoch closed his London freesheet
The Guardian: Monday 24 August 2009, Ciar Byrne and Ben Dowell
HAVING DECLARED that free has no part in the future of news, Rupert Murdoch last week pulled the plug on his London freesheet … The real driving force behind the decision is Rupert Murdoch's new-found evangelism for paid-for content. This month he declared News Corp's mission is "to increase our revenue from all our content". A loss-making free paper does not fit into this vision … in closing the London Paper the Murdochs have underlined their belief that charging for news is the way forward. Douglas McCabe, a media analyst with Enders Media in London, says: "Murdoch is saying 'enough is enough'. He's saying newsrooms have value and by giving away free content you devalue them. It would be somewhat ambiguous to start charging for online news and still give away news in a free paper."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/24/thelondonpaper-rupert-murdoch-news-international

Pay-to-read - cash cow, or red herring?
PDA: Guardian Digital Content Blog. Posted 10 Aug 09 by Robert Andrews, editor of Paid Content: UK
NEWSPAPERS that raise a paywall may find paying customers among some of their most loyal domestic fans - but they will shut out all the serendipitous readers, perhaps ending sites' global ambitions. The result would see BBC News, of course, attract more traffic. But a march to paid could also mean an opportunity for grassroots bloggers and redundant newspaper reporters, many of whom are promising to build alternative news sources worth their name.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/10/newspapers-paid-content-charging-paywalls

Chris Anderson on the Economics of 'Free'
Spiegel Online International
“ So now that you don't need this access to a commercial channel to distribute (news), anyone can do it. What we do is still useful but what other people do is equally useful. I don't think our way is the most important and it is certainly not the only way of conveying information. So this is why we're in a funny phase. It's going to take us a decade or two to figure out what it is we're doing.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,638172,00.html

Paid content is all the rage with US publishers - but where's the proof that anyone will pay?
14 Aug 09 Greenslade Blog, Guardian Online
THE PUBLISHERS' enthusiasm for Journalism Online’s plan still leaves unanswered the BIG questions: will the public pay? Will a sufficient number of people subscribe to ensure a healthy income? Will advertisers take fright when the user numbers fall?
Indeed, are these traditionalist publishers merely trying to graft an old-fashioned print business model on to the net when they should be exploring new ways of carrying out journalism?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/aug/14/us-press-publishing-digital-media

More on Journalism Online's 'Letters of Intent'
13 Aug … Wall Street Journal
JOURNALISM ONLINE has signed ‘letters of intent to become affiliates’ on a revenue-sharing basis with owners of 176 daily publications and 330 non-dailies. Gordon Crowitz, who is credited with developing the Wall Street Journal’s online-subscription business is quoted as saying, ‘Every publisher we have met with is now seeking to generate revenues for online access, which is a huge shift in strategy.’ Steven Brill of Journalism Online added, ‘All decisions with respect to how to charge, what to charge, whom to charge, or how and whether to bundle print, online and e-reader subscriptions will be left to each publisher.’

14 Aug ... Media Age
JOURNALISM ONLINE, a company founded in April by media bigwigs, claims to have signed up more than 500 newspapers and journals worldwide for its online payment scheme. They plan to provide publishers with various ways to charge for content including monthly subscriptions and pay-per-article. Co-founder, Steven Brill of American Lawyer magazine was quoted as saying, “By creating a platform of flexible hybrid models for paid content that maximizes online advertising revenue while creating a new revenue stream from readers, Journalism Online has helped shift the debate over charging for online news from if to when and how.”

6 Aug 09 ... AFP
NEWS CORPORATION will begin charging readers of online versions of its newspapers in the coming year in a move that Chairman Rupert Murdoch says could spur a shift away from free news content on the Internet.

7 Aug 09 ... The Independent
THE FINANCIAL TIMES is in talks to introduce a "pay-per-article" system inspired by the Apple iTunes model, which could change the culture of reading news on the internet.
Senior sources at the FT have confirmed that the group is in discussions with a number of payment processor companies to establish a simple "one -lick" procedure that would enable consumers to pay a small fee for single articles that would otherwise be available only to subscribers.

6 Aug 09 ... The Guardian
RUPERT MURDOCH'S decision to charge for access to online news is just the latest salvo in an increasingly fierce debate about the future of newspapers on the web. The perilous finances of many news organisations – caused in part by declining circulations and the economic crisis, but also thanks to the lower profits available from online advertising – have led many to consider ending the free handout of news on the web.