They can forget any traffic from me if they do this.
"Murdoch: Web sites to charge for content
(CNN) -- Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch expects News Corporation-owned newspaper Web sites to start charging users for access within a year in a move which analysts say could radically shake-up the culture of freely available content....
Well, I know where I won't be going anymore. I was getting tire of the endless and repetitive lies anyway.
*************
Joshua Benton, Director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, said Murdoch was not the only executive looking to generate new income streams from online content. "News executives are starting to recognize that online advertising revenues are not enough on their own," Benton told CNN.
But he said the challenge for media organizations was finding a balance between advertising and subscription revenues and figuring out how to charge for content without alienating existing users -- which could lead to Web sites offering tiered levels of free and paid-for material.
GOOOOOOD-BYYYYYYEEEE!
Is that enough alienation for you?
I ALREADY PAID MY $1.50!!!
"I suspect within any readership there is a small slice -- maybe three percent -- that is willing to pay. News organizations are going to have to find a way of getting money from that slice without driving away everybody else," Benton said.
And I'M NOT ONE of them!! Not for ON-LINE CONTENT!!
And if I'm paying for on-line content, then I'M NO LONGER GOING THERE!
Heck, the New York Times is still free and I never even go there anymore. After I stopped purchasing them, the visits to the websites became less and less until.... (poof).
"I don't think you can afford to put a lock and chain on the front page. It is a matter of figuring out which products you can charge money for."
Benton said the U.S. newspaper industry was in a "horrible state" which was likely to get worse.
--MORE--"And CHARGING for CONTENT (I already paid by $1.50, dammit) or LIMITING ACCESS isn't going to HELP!!!!
Either that or they will get a tax break (non-profit status) from the government. In either case, we lose because the liars will be able to continue.
Goodbye, Globe!!!!
Update:
Maybe not all the time.
" .... Ainsley said he is skeptical about charging for access to Boston.com, concerned that it would cut the number of visitors to the site, and, as a result, the ad revenue it generates...."
Here is one you would lose -- and I'm a faithful patron that you are barely clinging to.
