Tag: new york times

  • POLL: Are you willing to pay to read news online?

    From subscription to free to subscription and back

    Quietly, newspapers are starting to charge online visitors subscription fees for full access to their sites. In just a few days, The New York Times, will noticeably switch from a free system to a 3-tiered pay system.

    I believe The New York Times Company, like Rupert Murdoch from News Corp, have been emboldened on this concept by The Wall Street Journal’s alleged success with online subscriptions. News Corps brand new iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, will cost you $39.99 per year. I download the iPad app, and while it is brilliantly beautiful, the reality is that it the actual news is just news I can get on CNN.com or USAToday.com for free.

    Also, in a weird twist of fate, the iPad versions are actually more expensive and just as ad filled as the print editions. (I get the print edition of Wired for less than $1 per issue. Why would I pay $3.99 per issue to get it on my iPad?) This messes with people’s internal cost vs. benefit analysis and stops them from buying more than one “curiosity” edition. Conversely, subscription rates are going down and not up for iPad versions.

    At the end of the day I don’t think this strategy will last very long. When the payment gateways pop in on folks current sources for news, eyeballs will shift from paid content to free content, and the big news companies will re-evaluate their strategies. (At the same time giving lesser known sources of news incredible new levels of traffic.)

    Think about it: When you hit a payment gateway when looking for a news story, what are you going to do? Google it and find a free version of the same story. Duh.

    The Tortoise and the Hare

    What’s really interesting here is that the big news companies will lose money on a silly, short-sighted strategy. They are going to spend big money building these gateways and even more money trying to market these new ideas. Whereas, the smaller companies who might want to go to a subscription model, but just not have the capital to make it happen, will likely be the big winners.

    A better idea

    My opinion? Why in the world are these companies asking individuals to pay? Why not force the ISPs to pay, like ESPN did with ESPN3.com? That’s where the money is. Even if cable companies raised rates on their customers to cover these new costs, we wouldn’t whine because we are addicted to high-speed internet.

    All of this begs the poll above. Are you willing to start paying for news that you get for free today?

  • From Wall St. to Your Street

    Faced with sobering conditions, companies that issue MasterCard, Visa and other cards are rushing to stanch the bleeding, even as options once easily tapped by borrowers to pay off credit card obligations, like home equity lines or the ability to transfer balances to a new card, dry up. Story

    Just like it takes a few weeks for us to see the difference between the price of oil and the gas pump, the recent crash of the stock market takes a few weeks to filter into our lives.

    And from there it takes a couple weeks to filter from your street to your pew.

    Are you feeling it yet?

  • Newspapers are Dinosaurs

    This morning I opened my hotel room to discover today’s edition of USA Today. My first thought was, “I’ll put it on the pile next to the Monday edition” since I never opened it or ever read the headline.

    It wasn’t very long ago that I loved the newspaper. Each morning I would head to the grocery store and pick up some juice and the Chicago Tribune. I’d sit in the break room and read the entire thing from cover to cover. But picking up the paper this morning I realized that its been several years since I had done that. 

    Here are a few reasons I think the age of the newspaper is rapidly ending:

    • Newspapers are about yesterdays news in a world that demands up to the second news. 
    • Other than the “Letter to the editor” there is no way to respond to the news.
    • A blogger has nearly the same credibility as his/her local newspaper, maybe much more if they live where the news is happening. (I can attest to that)
    • People are suspicious of media sources as more and more people understand the spin that happens. 
    • Our attention spans are shorter. I remember in high school my english teacher I had “maybe” the first paragraph to win someone’s attention. Now, you better have a great headline and a picture or I’m scanning right by.
    • It’s printed on paper. Why would I want a newspaper when I can read the news on my mobile phone? Heck, I want them to start pushing the nightly news to my phone so I won’t need a TV!
    • Craigslist is killing the need or classifieds.
    • Why do they even print the weather in the paper?
    I’ve got a lot more reasons I think newspapers are headed to the land of dinosaurs. But here’s the thing. People like dinosaurs. There will always be room in our hearts for the nostalgia of the newspaper. 

    Question: Do you still get a local newspaper? If so, which one?

  • History Maker

    History Maker | Barack Obama

    Last night Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. If that’s news to you this morning, please nudge Dick Cheney awake and come out of the cave to the real world. 

    This isn’t a post about politics. This is a reminder of who we are in Christ. All over the news this morning Barack Obama is being called a history maker. The first African American to be a party nominee for President of the United States. It doesn’t matter which party you affiliate yourself with, this is a historic moment for our nation.

    If Jesus is your Savior, you are called to be a history maker as well. 

    Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth.

    Ephesians 5:13-14, Paul tells us to bring light to dark places, to wake up!

    Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus gives us marching order to go and change our world.

    On and on throughout the new testament we are taught the same thing… Go be a history maker. 

    change history now

    Don’t just look at Barack Obama and think to yourself, “Wow, how cool is it that he’s changing history.” Instead, look intently at what Jesus is calling you to do. And do it. Do it with the attitude that you were placed on this earth to make a difference. 

    Paul tells us, “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” 

    Change history. Do it now. Today is the day. The world you live in is waiting for someone to do something and that someone is you. That’s change we can believe in.

  • E-mail that costs you a billion dollars

    As far as slip ups with technology go, this one is pretty major. A lawyer for drug manufacturer Eli Lilly thought she was sending an email to her co-counselor on a billion dollar case.

    Unfortunately, her co-counselor shared the same last name as a person doing a story on the matter with the New York Times. He already knew about the deal but didn’t have enough sources confirming the story to make it public. That is, until he received the mistaken e-mail.

    The story exposed details of a billion dollar private settlement that would have otherwise remained confidential.

    Here’s the story.

    What’s the lesson here for your personal email, business email, and super-duper-uber private messages?

    HT to NPR