It's Time to Endow Newspapers

Most won't have to pay, paper says

(NEWSER) - The New York Times’ long-expected paywall is due next month, and details are starting to leak out about the plan. Everyone will have limited free access to the site, sources tell the Wall Street Journal , but once users reach that limit, they'll have to pony up. Users can buy either a subscription to just the site, or a digital bundle that also includes the Times’ iPad app. Subscribers to the physical paper will have full access to the website. More»

But that plan doesn't have the details

(NEWSER) - If you want to read the New York Times online, it's going to cost you—but not for everything and not until next year. The Times confirmed its planned paywall today, but execs “could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan.” The Times will allow users to read a certain number of stories for free each month, then charge a flat fee for further unlimited access. But the company isn’t yet sure how much it’ll charge, or how many free articles readers will get. More»

CEO says company won't cross the line into creating content

(NEWSER) - Google has decided against throwing struggling newspapers a lifeline through acquisition or by using its charitable arm to help them gain non-profit status, CEO Eric Schmidt tells the Financial Times. Schmidt said the company considered the idea, but decided that Google didn't want to cross the line between technology and content, and that potential acquisitions proved to be either too expensive or had too many liabilities. More»

One scenario is 'tricky;' the other will get you a T-shirt

(NEWSER) - The New York Times will decide how to charge users for its web content by the end of next month, the New York Observer reports. In his semi-annual newsroom meeting Wednesday, executive editor Bill Keller outlined two proposals the company is considering: a meter system based on word count or page views, and a membership system. More»

(NEWSER) - The New York Times' ruling Ochs-Sulzberger family has a “habit of buying high and selling low,” writes John Gapper of the Financial Times. The clan sold the paper’s old Times Square building at a bargain price and bought back shares near their zenith. Now Arthur Sulzberger Jr., "the daffy fourth-generation family member who is publisher of the paper and chairs the company," may sell the Times, which would be perhaps the family's dumbest move yet. More»