The New York Times will allow us to read 20 articles per month for free — anything more will cost you after March 28.
Readers have become accustomed to getting their news for free. The Times and other media companies had hoped the online advertising would make up for the loss of traditional print ads — but that has not been the case. They are looking for alternative ways. Read The New York Times story here.
The Times pay breakdown after you click on story No. 21:
* $15 every four weeks for access to the Web and mobile app
* $20 for Web access and an iPad app
* $35 for an all-access plan
This pay wall isn’t so solid.
Readers can still read articles shared on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other news sites. You can see full stories when you search on Google.
Longtime media columnist Howard Kurtz wrote in The Daily Beast that this keeps The Times part of the conversation that’s happening on blogs and social media sites. The pay wall really impacts those avid readers who absorb the stories deep in the paper.
Kurtz writes:
The Times is gambling that there are enough news junkies out there willing to pay for their fix and not just surf away to The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Huffington Post, or a thousand other websites. Given the Times’s affluent readership, that gamble may pay off in a way that could be beyond the reach of other metropolitan dailies—unless we all become accustomed to the notion that someone has to pay for good journalism.
Everyone is watching to see what happens.
Click here to read his story in The Daily Beast
Would you ever pay for the news?
