What can newspapers charge for if they can't charge for news?

1. Spread of free papers - Already very popular in Europe, free papers are spreading like wildfire.  Metro distributes the third largest number of copies of a print daily worldwide.  Chicago's two competing youth papers, Red Eye and Red Streak, have just officially erased their cover price.  The Examiner, copyrighted in over 60 American cities, is soon launching another edition in Baltimore, directly competing with the city's main papers.

2. Internet news - The Wall Street Journal has been successful at an online paid subscription plan, but its Managing Editor Bill Grueskin said at the Association of Online Publishers conference, "If you're running a free site now it would be very hard to switch to a paid model." 

Media man Steve Yelvington has bad news for editors and publishers hoping that consumers will pay for online content: "Get this: There is no shortage of stuff to read. Awash in free content, the consumer has to be really impressed with your stuff if you want 'em to pay."

In Editor and Publisher, The New York Times' op-ed columnists have voiced their thoughts on the Times new online pay model, Paul Krugman saying, "For the time being, it hurts the readers of the column. There is certainly a lot less pick-up."

Other columnists had similar complaints but at the same time praised the Times for testing the model.  Times spokespeople will not yet release figures as to the rate of subscription.

3. Changes in size and design - Not only has newspaper designer John Belknap said that the broadsheet "is probably dead," but perhaps worse, he continued, "If you don't redesign the content when you redesign the newspaper, all you get is a painted cadaver." 

This may be seen as worse by many consumers because it changes the core product of the paper; the journalism.

Although it was argued from the beginning that the UK's Independent and Times would not change their content when they switched to compact, it became gradually apparent that in fact they had. 

One prime example is this week's downsizing of the Wall Street Journal's European and Asian editions. Many of the articles are not as long or as in depth as normal Journal columns.  This may alienate its over 80,000 paid circulation base.  But the compact Journal, widely considered to be a last ditch effort, could work because it will be easier to read on planes which is where many business travelers read it... for free.

Design and size changes do seem to boost circulation, as witnessed in the first few months of the UK pair's launch two years ago and more recently, The Guardian and Le Figaro's success.  But these rises have so far statistically evened out fairly quickly.

If content is inherently affected by format change, it is more than likely that readers will notice the difference in the quality of news that they were used to and will just as easily decide that they can get the same news for free in a free daily or on the Internet. 

So how do newspapers solve the problem?  Here are three suggestions.

1. According to Reuters executive Dean Wright, all breaking news will be free to the consumer and advertiser supported.  Instead, newspapers will begin to publish more reflective, analytical pieces, premium content for which they can feasibly charge. 

Internet news innovator Bob Cauthorn even mentioned that newspapers may want to cut back their circulation to three days a week in order to produce these pieces.

2. "In the global world, local media becomes more important." Futurologist Richard Scase gave his view of the future of newspapers saying that communities will need something to rally around.  A paper that pays attention to its community, that gives valuable information back to the community about itself will be able to charge for news.

3. In the same way that there is a movement towards local, there is a similar shift towards niche.  This can be seen by the popularity of Internet social sites, where people with similar interests gather to discuss their common bond.

Newspapers could turn their supplements, whose number have been expanding, into mini niche magazines for which they could charge. If their articles turned more analytical, newspapers may even be able to split up their sections into mini publications, in a way, personalizing the news for profit.

Everyday news could even accompany these sections as a free supplement, effectively reversing the roles of supplements and news.

We may even soon see the advent of personalized print newspapers, articles chosen by the reader from different publication all printed under one cover and delivered to your doorstep. 

If any of these suggestions were to become true, they would have one grand implication; revenue and profits would drop considerably. Business models would obviously change. Newspapers would no longer be able to pander to the "mass public," all of which would be reading the "mass news" for free on the Net and thus they wouldn't be selling as much national bulk advertising.

But, if a newspaper company was able to diversify enough, something that has already been seen with the addition of numerous topic specific supplements, they may be able to sell enough quality niche publications that their combined revenues could still keep Wall Street happy.

Sources: journalism.co.uk, Steve Yelvington, Editor and Publisher, Rebuilding Media