Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


6

Newsday Jumps Behind a Paywall

Opts for 'hyper-local' approach

Share

(Newser) – If you’ve been reading a ton of Newsday stories online, we’ve got some bad news: the Long Island daily plans to erect a paywall next week. The paper’s online content will now be closed to everyone except print subscribers, Optimum Online customers, and anyone willing to pay $5 a week for it, notes Editor & Publisher. The paper called it a “pioneering web model” and said it would be taking a “hyper-local approach” focusing on Long Island.

A Monday edition of Newsday is shown May 12, 2008 in New York.
A Monday edition of Newsday is shown May 12, 2008 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The mastheads of the New York Post and Newsday are seen in this photo in New York, Friday, March 21, 2008.
The mastheads of the New York Post and Newsday are seen in this photo in New York, Friday, March 21, 2008.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
6 comments
VIEWING:
 
Yourself
Oct 22, 09 1:10 PM CDT
well, that's the end of Newsday's online sector. I don't know of anyone willing to pay for online news when they know they can get it elsewhere for free. Especially in this economy. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+3
IN RESPONSE:
Spudsy
Oct 22, 09 4:26 PM CDT
$260 a year would be a little steep for me even before the recession.
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
Thinker
Oct 22, 09 1:49 PM CDT
Rather than get all conservative on us and try to force us back to the old-fashioned ways, newspapers should wake the hell up. Look, we are NOT going to pay for mediocre news, printed or online, when there are great journalists out there willing to give it to us for free. Frankly, I'd rather give a $10 per month donation for a not-for-profit (aka, non-biased) news source than pay $5 a year to a corporate big-wig or corrupt CEO (think Rupert Murdoch) who will only give me their political agendas wrapped up in a pretty news mask. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+2
IN RESPONSE:
davjc09
Oct 22, 09 2:05 PM CDT
I agree with you almost completely, Thinker. I would, however, like to point out that political agendas are evident even in the "non-biased" newspapers. A conservative editor can still report a liberal story, but bury it on page 27 when it should be front page or maybe second page. And vice versa. Bringing issues he or she thinks is important to the reader.
Vote up! Vote down!
0
ThinkerIsDumb
Oct 22, 09 2:48 PM CDT
To these few who posted comments: keep reading your "free" news on the web. My bet is that you will see more and more paywalls erected in 2010. Why? Because "free" doesn't pay the bills. "Free" doesn't pay the journalists, or the legal teams needed to protect newspapers from suits. "Free" doesn't cover the costs ... period. The economy is in turmoil, and one of the first places that businesses cut expenses is: advertising ... and that is what provided the luxury of "free" news on the web. You didn't actually believe that Google and Yahoo employs their own reporters, did you? Give it a year as hundreds of newspapers with paywalls turn into thousands of newspapers with paywalls. Then, find your free news or ... wait until the 5 p.m. news on television. Or ... even better ... put up your own websites and post your own free news stories. Post the links here and lets see if you're still reporting all the great free news a year or two from now. Have fun. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0

View all 6 comments »

LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

242 Stories

Twitter Founder:
Murdoch Will 'Fail Fast'

Biz Stone thinks plan to put up online paywalls is folly

Nov 19, 09 12:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Biz Stone says he’d “love to see what happens” if Rupert Murdoch really yanks his newspapers from Google, predicting that he’ll “fail fast.” The Twitter co-founder thinks News Corp would be better off trying “to make a ton of money from being radically open... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Rupert Murdoch • News Corp • Twitter • Biz Stone • paywall

WEB NEWS WARS

 News Corp. May 
 Shield All Content 
 From Google 

Murdoch says move will wait until paywalls go up at newspaper sites

Nov 9, 09 12:52 PM CST
(Newser) - News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch wants to put a permanent end to “parasite” Google’s “kleptomania” when it comes to content on his newspapers’ websites. Murdoch says the Wall Street Journal and others will likely be removed from Google’s search registry “when we start charging”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Google • Rupert Murdoch • Wall Street Journal • online news • search engine • News Corp • newspaper industry • paywall

 How the Onion 
 Writes Headlines 

New book Our Front Pages explores the evolution

Nov 3, 09 1:02 PM CST
(Newser) - The Onion's writers have a backward way of generating stories: They come up with the headlines first. The staff devotes the first two days of each week to rejecting headlines like “Quick and Painless Overthrow of Taliban Enters Eighth Year” in favor of “US Continues Quagmire-Building Effort in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
media • newspaper • satire • The Onion • headlines

242 Stories


Media  •  Business 
TwitterFollow @NewserMedia on Twitter

 
newspaper • Long Island • Newsday • paywall

from our news partners