Given that it appears that the online version of The World will soon only be accessible to paying subscribers and because I refuse to pay a cent to a paper as lopsided as this one, I will never again feel compelled to read another of its poorly written editorials. This could be a golden opportunity for the other local papers to step up their game with online content and to start providing some badly needed analysis along with their news.
UPDATE A newly released study indicates that news organizations adopting a pay wall in lieu of free access with advertising are in for an uphill battle. The study is geared towards mobile apps and their impact on news dissemination, not an apples to apple comparison to The World which will probably install the pay wall and still include advertising much as it does now.
From the Poynter Institute
On the business-model front, the survey showed little promise for moving audiences to paid content instead of the free, ad-supported model. Fewer than a quarter of people, mobile users or not, were willing to pay extra for news without ads.
Survey author Roger Fidler concludes his analysis: “Digital content produced by professional journalists for mobile media devices has perceived value, but charging for access, with or without advertising, will continue to present news organizations with a dilemma for the foreseeable future.”
The reason the village burned down is because the Democrats brought the matches.
Tell us Mark, what the Democrats did to communications, tell the readers.
And you have the balls to ask others to support their abusers? Some of us have learned HOW to leave our abusers Mark, you have not.
They don’t need me to explain it. They are not uninformed.
The question is: How do we fix it?
Here’s the good policy/possible politics question yet again. It’s no secret what needs to be done to restore local & minority ownership and control over media. How do you get it done in Salem and Wash DC?
You hate Democrats. Fine. I get it. What would you have us do to remove control of our media from corporate clutches?
“If you want a No Charge Press you should vote for as many Democrats as you can because they are the ones who created publicly financed media (NPR, PBS, and the like). They are also the ones who want to keep it. It’s a great thing in my book, the best news source going.”
Oh really Brainiac? Well why don’t you just clarify that and tell us rabble exactly what Bill Clinton did to OUR telecommunications?
Oh right, I forgot. Democrats are not perfect. And they make mistakes. My apologies. The point stands: If you want to defund NPR, elect Republicans. It’s in their platform.
Have fun burning down the village.
I don’t disagree that there are some landmines here, especially since as you point out on this site 90% of the media is owned by six companies. The enormity of that problem cannot be overstated.
However, paying for news has always been the norm. There was no Golden Era of Free Newspapers. Free Press doesn’t mean No Charge. Never has.
If you want a No Charge Press you should vote for as many Democrats as you can because they are the ones who created publicly financed media (NPR, PBS, and the like). They are also the ones who want to keep it. It’s a great thing in my book, the best news source going.
Otherwise, when you see good journalism being done, you need to open your checkbook and support it. The R-G did an exceptional series on ballot measures 66 & 67; they’ve had my business ever since. Soledad O’Brien does fantastic work on an otherwise tepid CNN. I record her show daily so that she gets ratings credit for it. I pay for access to the NYTimes website and it is well worth it.
There is good journalism out there. When you see it you need to be willing to support it. Sometimes that means paying for it.
The other upside is more people might read the Register Guard and the Guard might provide more in depth coverage of the coast
Son’t bet on it. I gave up on the Guard when they became the all UO all the time paper. They cut back almost all reporting from the coast and then often pick up the AP stories which originate at the World.
Not a loss to any of the folks in my neighborhood.
We are about to find out why the Founding Fathers, after building a school/church/masonic temple, established at least one newspaper in their communities. It’s crucial for the population to have a free open press, something we haven’t seen in at least a decade. They knew how important an independent press was.
We’re about to find out how important.