Citation
Seelye, Katharine Q. "Can Papers End the Free Ride Online?" New York Times 14 Mar. 2005. 19 Mar.
2007 <http://www.nytimes.com>.
Summary
Newspapers are losing big money to their online editions. People don’t like to pay for things they can get for free. This is a big reason why print newspapers are on the decline. Some newspapers have debated making readers subscribe to their online counterparts for a fee, but it doesn’t look promising right now. Things like national news, which can be found pretty much anywhere, won’t do well if a paper charges because of precisely that. The Wall Street Journal is able to charge its online readers because it is a financial publication, so it can be counted as a business expense. Other small dailies charge for their online papers in an effort to save the print version, but online readership has dropped dramatically, according to Ken Sands, online publisher of Spokane’s The Spokesman-Review.
Quotes
“Print is going the way it’s going, which is down, which is unfortunate because it’s the revenue engine that keeps this whole thing going. The online business model won’t ever be able to support the whole news infrastructure.” (Ken Sands)
“Newspapers are cannibalizing themselves,” said Frederick W. Searby, an advertising and publishing analyst at J.P. Morgan.
Review/Analysis
This article says to me that the decline of print newspapers is not because people don’t care for “quality news” anymore–it is purely financial. The fact that the online readership is increasing is fact enough that people still enjoy reading the news. People still find their same trust print papers credible, they just don’t like to pay for what they can get for free.
This means that the credibility of newspapers is not on the decline, nor is people’s thirst for reliability. Newspapers are as trustworthy as ever. Blogs, if they hope to be as widely read as newspapers, will have to maintain that same sense of credibility.
