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Mark Stanley, for the Pulitzer Center
While the idea of paying for high quality journalism content, as audiences have traditionally done with print newspapers, is intuitive to some, others have had mixed reactions to the Times' announcement.
This morning, The New York Times announced it will introduce a paid model for NYTimes.com. Beginning in 2011, it will no longer be possible to receive the wealth of journalism content offered on the site for free.
While the idea of paying for high quality journalism content, as audiences have traditionally done with print newspapers, is intuitive to some, others have had mixed reactions to the Times' announcement.
Among our followers on Twitter and Facebook, reactions to the paywall the Times will put around its content have included both support and anger.
"I've had NYT as my homepage for years. Luv the paper. But if they do this, I'll make another news source my HP (homepage)," one of our Twitter followers wrote about the announcement.
"I do think quality journalism is expensive and should be paid for, with the obvious risk of making it elite-oriented... If journalism were only a commodity, it does need to be paid for. But info unavailability undermines right of information," another wrote.
When it comes to an online paywall, there are many factors to consider. For example, will a paywall prevent access to information by those who need it? Will it decrease backlinks and visitors to a site and affect ad revenue? These are important questions. However, one fact that cannot be disputed is the financial implosion of the U.S. journalism industry.
As the Pew Research Center stated in its most recent, and what it called its "bleakest," annual report on the State of the News Media, "Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. Some papers are in bankruptcy, and others have lost three-quarters of their value. By our calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone."
As newspaper revenues dwindle and newsrooms shrink, the amount of quality journalism newspapers are able to produce is threatened. Foreign news bureaus are especially susceptible to cuts.
The Pulitzer Center's mission statement reads:
[The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supports] the independent international journalism that U.S. media organizations are increasingly less willing to undertake. The Center focuses on under-reported topics, promoting high-quality international reporting and creating platforms that reach broad and diverse audiences.
Although it is not known if the Times' new model will be a solution to the current hardships of the journalism industry, anything that can safeguard the quality of journalism is welcome.