CT Blue

Editor and Publisher reports that the New York Times is doing a survey to determine how much its readers would pay for access to its website. As one who is still paying for three print newspapers and several magazines, I think I can make a credible claim that I am not reluctant to pay for the news.

But I would be reluctant to have to pay for access to individual newspaper websites. The great thing about the web is the fact that one can follow a chain of links to wherever one wants to go. It would be frustrating in the extreme if one ran into subscription roadblocks at every website one attempted to reach.

On the other hand I fully agree that we can’t expect to get the news if we don’t expect to pay for it, and that it’s very likely that advertising alone won’t produce the revenue that’s needed.

I have a modest proposal. I recognize that this may run into anti-trust issues, but if necessary Congress should step in and clear the way.

I would be happy to pay a monthly fee for access to all newspapers on the web. The revenue from that fee could be distributed to the various papers based on a reasonable formula, considering number of hits, etc. Local newspapers might get a larger share of the fees from people residing within their geographical areas. My point is that we should provide for a stream of revenue while maximizing the convenience to the consumer. I am willing to pay so that I can access, let’s say, the Miami Herald, should a link take me there. I’m not willing to open an account with the Herald to enable infrequent access. I also think that there should be some sort of provision for a family plan for this sort of thing. We buy the physical Times every day. My wife and I both read it, and there’s no extra charge. Same with cable, as many as you like can watch without any extra charge. The same should apply to news subscriptions.

A little imaginative thinking is needed to resolve this issue. We are approaching a crisis. I love bashing the media as much as the next guy, but the fact is we need it, particularly the print media. We would need to assure that new entrants to the field would not be barred or that artificial roadblocks were not built into the system. I don’t think any of those problems are insurmountable. In the end, I think people would pay a monthly fee for access to news, just like they pay for cable, etc.

In my own case, I would probably save money under such a plan, assuming I dropped the print subscriptions. But that shouldn’t matter much to the publishers, since the cost of web distribution is so much less than the cost of physical distribution.