Stock Analyst Says WSJ.com Should Be Free
Lots of discussion in the newspaper world of paid vs. free access to online content.
Here’s what a stock analyst says
If it were up to me, it would be a no-brainer. There are so many venues for obtaining news in today’s world I find it hard to believe that anyone pays for an annual Wall Street Journal Online subscription.
But Paxton Media who owns a number of newspapers in Kentucky including Paducah and Owensboro are just as adamant that charging for online access is the smart thing to do.
We will remain free access for all local news. Later this year we will even provide open access to archives for our print subscribers. (It’s free for fourteen days to anyone now.)
We are expanding our online presence by adding The Amplifier (http://amplifier.bgdailynews.com) to our site. The Amplifier has music from local bands, will have more local video, more listings. We think it’s smart to keeping expanding what we offer to deliver as many eyeballs as possible to the advertisers who see the future of the web.
We’ll give up some revenue, but like the analyst says, there is more revenue to be made being the dominant local source for news online and in print.