Paywall experiment begins
Johnston Press has today started trying to get readers to pay for news published on its websites, writes Paul Watson.
Six titles are taking part in a trial – see previous Media Watch articles. Some are charging to view the news – others are directing the readers to the paid for printed newspaper.
The Worksop Guardian (Nottinghamshire) is directing readers to its printed paper.
Here is an example:
Club celebrates centenary Published Date: 27 November 2009
By Tom Glover
MEMBERS of a working men's club in Hodthorpe celebrated its 100th birthday on Saturday by wearing period costume. For a full report on this and all the latest local news, sport and leisure, make sure you get your copy of the Worksop Guardian - now on sale on Thursday afternoon.
This is very similar to short-lived experiment in the Sussex Express where earlier this year the “stories” on the website were just a paragraph long followed by a paragraph directing people to that week’s newspaper.
The Whitby Gazette (North Yorkshire) is now charging £5 a quarter to access news on its website.
It tells readers at the top of stories that to read the article in full “you must have registered and have a premium content subscription with the Whitby Gazette Friday site".
The trial has caused considerable interest in the media world and the BBC has been running a story on its Ceefax news service and on its website.
Many media commentators argue that one of the problems newspapers have in charging for access to their websites is the competition from the BBC, where the news is free – although you pay for it through the licence fee.
Johnston Press is trying to find out if there is demand for a much more local service than the BBC can provide.
As I’ve said before, the content is the key factor. People just may be prepared to pay for information they cannot get elsewhere for free. By the end of the Johnston Press experiment, we will have some hard facts. At the moment all we have is educated guesswork.
(Added to site Monday, November 30th, 2009)
