I haven’t read The Times of London since it erected its massive paywall.
The Gannett local papers, such as the Ithaca Journal, allow a certain number of visits, but the pop-up warnings pretty much have me not visiting.
I rarely visit The Providence Journal since it’s paywall went up, except to visit occasionally the non-paywall Breaking News.
The NY Times paywall is pretty easy to evade if you know what you are looking for, but otherwise it keeps me away.
And so on, and so on.
Now add WaPo, Publisher’s letter: How the paywall will work (emphasis mine):
On June 12, we will begin phasing in our metered subscription model. It will take us a few weeks to get everyone into the system, but doing that will allow us to ensure that you have the best possible experience.Once the subscription service launches, you will initially be able to view 20 pieces of content per month before being asked to subscribe. We hope you will consider subscribing even if you don’t reach the limit; a subscription will provide unlimited access to all The Post’s world-class journalism, multimedia and interactive features and more. Importantly, you will also be helping to support our newsgathering operations.Whether or not you subscribe, we will not limit your ability to view The Post’s homepage and section front pages, watch videos or search classified advertising. In addition, readers who come to The Post through search engines or shared links will be able to access the linked page regardless of the number of articles they have previously viewed.Our digital packages will be priced at $9.99 per month for access to the desktop and mobile web only and $14.99 for an all-digital package which includes access to all of The Post’s custom apps. Home delivery subscribers will continue to have complimentary access to all of The Post’s digital products.
Got that. Even if you don’t need the subscription, WaPo asks you to subscribe anyway to support the paper. In other words, hit the Tip Jar.
One of the greatest news operations in the world has been reduced to begging like a blogger.
I don’t think it will work.
Seems like we are reverting to the days of paper newspapers. Which is a dying model, and why paper newspapers went digital.
What is wrong with this picture?
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