New York Times' paid online experiment criticized
Considered by some to be the ultimate test of whether or not newspaper websites will be able to charge for content in the future, the New York Times' pay model TimesSelect is receiving harsh criticism from loyal Times readers and of course, the blogosphere. Poynter's Steve Outing has received a number of emails slamming the Times' decision and concluded, "What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders... Something the times may have damaged here is its global impact." One of Outings' emails came from a devoted Times subscriber who said, "Yes, I can afford to subscribe to TimesSelect, but I will not. I have canceled my delivery of the paper, as well."
MediaBistro has an array of reader opinions, mostly negative, and a summary of the blogosphere's reaction - negative across the board. One blog says that the Times' is doing the rest of the online media world a favor by diminishing their dominant news presence on the Web with a paywall. Readers in general seem to agree that they'll be able to read opinions just as valued of those of the Times' columnists on other blogs and many are sure they'll be able to find the columnists somewhere on the Net anyways - which has happened, just look at Technorati's homepage. One reader even summed up the problem in a somewhat old fashioned, yet logical manner: "I can go to the library and read the NYT for free if I'm desperate."
Will readers eventually warm up to TimesSelect, or will this criticism force the Times to scrap the project?
Sources: Poynter, MediaBistro
3 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: New York Times' paid online experiment criticized.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/666
The Editors Weblog reports that readers loyal to New York Times columnists are increasingly searching for their works on blogs ever since the columns went up behind the TimesSelect paid service. A quick look at the top blog searches Technorati's Read More
The Editors Weblog reports that readers loyal to New York Times columnists are increasingly searching for their works on blogs ever since the columns went up behind the TimesSelect paid service. A quick look at the top blog searches Technorati's Read More
By Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher Saturday evening at the Robert Scoble welcoming dinner my good buddy Om Malik of GigaOm and Business 2.0, mentioned that Silicon Valley Watcher had been featured that day in a New York Times column. It was in th... Read More
I should like contact with your science correspondent because I am preparing an article (bilingual) to describe and discuss TWO/three of the greatest advances in the treatment of diseases states that took place in Paris- about 100 years apart- at two institutions not very far part:
Pasteur's (i) Germ theory of infection and the attenuated vaccine treatment of a 9 yr old Joseph Meister:
Germ Theory of Infection, Rabies treatment of a 9 year old boy by Pasteur- 1860s-18888 Mand in 1988- began -"Thérapie cellulaire régénérative": From the work begun with the success at Hôpital St Louis- 'Ombilical' cord blood immature progenitor stem cell treatment of a 5 yr old boy with Fanconi's anaemia in 1988- paper in the New England J of Medicine., 1989- cooperation between the USA scientists and Prof Eliane Gluckman.
y association with Paris- Hôpital St Antoine-r. Chaligny- 1976 onwards
and Nancy- 1970 when first invited to lecture by Pr Constance Burg- Dir INSERM to help transfer the Cambridge technology- One ablemedical candiate doing his MD came for a short time to learn the Cambridge technology and the collaboration continued 1976-1985 worked on the ombilical cord stem immature progenitor cells as well.
A geneticist from Nancy also collaborated for surface molecular genetics.
"Controle génétique de la region H2 sur la topographie chimique de la surface cellulaire: étude des groupements amines cationiques a la péripherie des lymphocytes T. Annales d’Immunologie (Paris). (Paris). 1977 Jan-Mar; 128(1-2): 211-3.
Also more papers.
It would be great to celebrate this event- now also yesterday 3 scientists got the Nobel prizes for stem cells (albeit embryonic).
Pl ask some one to contact me by e-mail or direct tel
44-1223 57 36 28.
Two very bright scientists (during the time Pr Constance Burg, Dir. INSERM)