If you wanted to read Sunday's 'Matier and Ross' report on SFGate, you could do so without having to buy the paper. 
Ditto Gwen Knapp.
There was widespread talk back in early spring that the Chronicle was planning a small-scale pay wall, similar to the NY Times. A monthly $9.95 fee would enable subscribers to read the entire paper's content, including popular columnists like Jon Carroll, Scott Ostler, the aforementioned Matier and Ross and others.
So far, no pay wall is up and the idea of a paid-content experiment appears to have been nothing more than a trial balloon. In an era where paid content is rare and the idea of prolonged profitability seems distant, it's no surprise.
Only the Wall Street Journal charges for all its on-line content and it is the only daily publication that makes money off its pay wall. Others are still trying amidst fluctuating market conditions.
Not all of the Chron's featured writers were available free of charge Sunday; Scott Ostler and a few selected content items were only obtainable by buying the Sunday newspaper.
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WSJ probably lies that they are making money. Who takes any business journal for their word?
ReplyDeletePeople have too much to suscribe too, just to get to the net already.
Most of the Chron's columns are only available after a 2-day wait. Annoying.
ReplyDeleteYou can access WSJ stories free by copying the headline of the story you want to read and paste it in Google news.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if only Matier & Ross and Willie Brown are embargoed. You can still read all the Sports, Jon Carroll, Leah Garchik, Mick LaSalle, and Ben Fong-Torres the same day they appear in print.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the answer? Newspapers are dying, and their only hope is to charge for online content. And we need newspapers. Who else covers stories with any real depth? Who else digs up stories about corruption and political shenanigans? TV reporters just don't do that stuff, they want visuals and a quick in and out. Seems like half the stories on local TV news are follow-ups to stories that were in the paper that morning. Newspapers gotta charge for their content, or else. They never should have given it away free.
ReplyDeletePut Morford behind a paywall....then leave him there.
ReplyDeleteThis attempt to get us to subscribe to a pile of recyclables is failing. We want news online, no recycle heap, and may pay for some of it. I might be willing to pay a small annual fee for the Chron, but I am sick to death of everyone wanting money from me monthly.
ReplyDelete