I never understood why, when selling subscriptions and newsstand copies, publishers put all of their content online for free. It’s like bookstores. People could sit in them all day, read everything but the exit sign, and not have any guilt about not paying. Rupert Murdoch recently announced that he’s going to erect a “pay wall” to shrink-wrap his news empire’s interests on the web. This follows his prediction that in 10 years, print will bow completely to digital.
Despite the possibility of completely throwing people off the News Corp. readership roster and forcing them to go to the free competition, I say finally. It’s better that he takes some action than make complaining his only reaction to the unfortunate state of the newspaper industry. Besides, he may be onto something. Soon after announcing his pay-to-read plan, The Boston Globe jumped on the money wagon too.
– Natasha Dorsainvil