The death of the newspaper – YAWN

I’m getting rather tired of this conversation, to be quite frank. Maybe this is solely due to the fact that I’ve overloaded myself with three core Media subjects this semester, or simply because I’m completing a media degree, but whatevs. We know it’s going to happen – newspapers, in their print form, WILL die unless an alternative revenue stream is sourced.

Advertising isn’t bringing in the big bucks no more! And besides all that, fewer and fewer of us are purchasing physical newspapers in favour of iPhones, Blackberries, laptops and more – who needs to burden those around us on trains with huge broadsheets just to get a few simple facts??

Despite all this, everyone seems very sad about the elusive ‘death’ to Newspapers as we know them. Yet the problem is, no one seems to want to do anything to help the flailing industry.

According to Mashable, an apparent array of Murdoch haters, News Corp WILL charge for their online and mobile news services.

“Newspapers are finding themselves in tough economic circumstances, so it’s no surprise that News Corp is dead set on monetizing their digital content, with CEO Rupert Murdoch recently saying that his company is planning to “charge for all our news websites.”

In a somewhat surprising move, it turns out the monetization strategy is being applied to mobile consumption of content as well. Murdoch went on the record at a recent conference saying that WSJ readers should expect to pay $2/week for mobile content using the BlackBerry or iPhone WSJ application.

Application subscribers will be charged $2 per week, though subscribers to both print and online will not be charged extra. The charges are expected to be implemented sometime in the next few months, as

Murdoch believes that “news is more valuable than ever.”

- Murdoch’s Latest Money Grab: Charge for Mobile Access to WSJ, September 16th, 2009 | by Jennifer Van Grove

Unsurprisingly, the comments in reply to the post adamantly stated, “I will not pay for my news when I get it for free!” (in a nutshell).

Here lies the problem – the whole reason news has moved online is that it is more accessible on the go, more instant and up-to-date and, above all else, the internet is a free, user generated medium. It was designed to allow for a free exchange of information and ideas. In charging for online content, Murdoch is challenging the medium itself.

With this in mind, would I pay for my news online? You know, if I had to fork out $2 a week to use a news app, I’d probably find a way around it. However, if I were to be charged to access an online newspaper, I’d probably do it. If not, I’d purchase the physical paper itself.  But this model will only work, of course, if collectively, all papers decided to charge for their content. Readers will then have to decide if they value Murdoch paper’s content enough to pay for it?

It depends on readership and demographics -

Readers of The Wall Street Journal (think investors, bankers, fund managers- the financially knowledgeable) may be willing to pay for content, but readers of The Sun are most likely not willing to pay. This is due to the fact that for people involved in finance, the cost of having this information is miniscule compared to the possible gains that may be made by having that information. For the average reader of The Sun, the information provided to them is purely for enjoyment or interest. There are, in most cases, no possible gains directly related to having that information, therefore they are not willing to pay for it.

-  Murdoch Will Lead News Corp. To Its Death. by Michael Moore Jones September 16, 2009

It seems that I’m torn between my love for the online, the free medium with seemingly infinite possiblities, and my love for old-school print media.

I guess the bottom line is, if we want to keep one industry going, we may have to jeopardize another. Maybe the future really will require users to simply pay for more of what they consume online or on our mobiles, regardless of how we wish it weren’t so. But only when all other avenues have been explored.