New York Times Will Charge for Online Content

Jan. 20, 2010 -- The New York Times confirmed today that beginning in early 2011 the company will adopt a paid model for its Web site, NYTimes.com. The move comes at a time when much of the newspaper industry is searching for a way to stop the bleeding brought on by the Internet and the accompanying smaller revenue streams that online advertising produces.

Many fear that putting content behind a paywall will just drive readers to other sources, but perhaps the Times' approach will help to combat that issue.

The move is something we've all seen coming, as more and more newspapers have shut down in recent years. By mid-2009, more than 100 newspapers had been shuttered with a number stopping the presses and going online-only in an attempt to remain in production.

As with most things of this nature, only time will tell if this new model will work. What do you think?

Full story here:  New York Times Confirms Pay Model for 2011

RIP: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle P-I to publish last edition Tuesday
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Last updated 7:49 a.m. PT
By DAN RICHMAN AND ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTERS
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will roll off the presses for the last time Tuesday.
The Hearst Corp. announced Monday that it would stop publishing the 146-year old newspaper, Seattle's oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers.
The company, however, said it would maintain seattlepi.com, making it the nation's largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product.
"Tonight we'll be putting the paper to bed for the last time," Editor and Publisher Roger Oglesby told a silent newsroom Monday morning. "But the bloodline will live on."
In a news release, Hearst CEO Frank Bennack Jr. said, "Our goal now is to turn seattlepi.com into the leading news and information portal in the region."
The new operation will be more than a newspaper online, Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, said. The so-called "community platform" will feature breaking news, columns from prominent Seattle residents, community databases, photo galleries, 150 citizen bloggers and links to other journalistic outlets.
On Jan. 9, New York-based Hearst put the Seattle P-I up for sale and said that the paper would stop printing if a buyer were not found within 60 days.
Despite community concern, no buyer emerged. The P-I lost $14 million last year.
Full story here.