Can Papers End the Free Ride Online?

This article describes the growth of free online newspaper readership and the
corresponding decline in paying customers for newspapers' print editions. Seelye cites the unwillingness of consumers to pay for news online, and the
financial hit that newspapers are taking as a result. The article notes the
drop in print readership and subscription revenue, and the new reliance on less
profitable, and less reliable, web advertising revenue.

Seelye notes that less revenue means less money for news investigations, and
quotes the publisher of the online Spokesman Review as stating that "The
online business model won't ever be able to support the whole news
infrastructure." Meanwhile, Seelye observes "Of the nation's 1,456
daily newspapers, only one national paper, The Wall Street Journal ... and about
40 small dailies charge readers to use their Web sites."



 While the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), according to this article, saw an
initial 2/3 drop in traffic when it first began charging in 1996, it has since
seen some growth. Seelye notes, however, that in the case of the WSJ, more people
subscribe to receive both the print and online editions (400,000), than the
print edition alone (300,000). This pattern is also seen in the smaller
Spokane, Washington, Spokesman-Review, where 200,000 receive the print and
online subscriptions, and only 545 subscribe to online only.



This article points out how for many newspapers, charging for online
content may be the only way to save their print editions. Other tactics cited
include offering additional online services to those customers who also
subscribe to the print edition and charging for specific portions of the site,
such as the crossword puzzle or additional sports news features.