Opinion: For newspapers to survive, you have to stop the "free riders"

Posted by Rosemary D'Amour on December 16, 2008 at 2:53 PM

Brian Till, one of the US's youngest syndicated columnists, had an epiphany during his discussions about the decline in American journalism.

Although he spends "hours a day reading news," and has countless resources at his disposal, he has only purchased "bout a dozen American papers in the last year." Till finds that, ipso facto, his actions have helped diminish the newspaper industry.

"I am the murderer of news," he writes, along with his generation, who has failed to recognize the role they've played. Growing up with free news, Till writes, has left his generation clueless to the fact that they were the "free riders killing the industry."

The availability of content online, and for free, Till writes, has helped cause the demise of American newspapers who face sharp circulation declines paired with falling advertising revenues.

Online, their product is viable. Readership tends to increase for online versions of newspapers. Readers can access news at their leisure, even on mobile devices.
News has become "too accessible to pay for without a concerted effort," Till writes, claiming that he has probably not paid more then $100 for news in his life.

The 2008 presidential election warranted buying newspapers, as November 5 editions of newspapers marking Barack Obama's victory around the country sold out and reprinted editions. They served more as a memento, however, and not a revival for the industry.

The industry can only survive, Till writes, if the major newspapers collude, and make the audience pay for news, "be it digital or print." Paying for a Sunday print edition, with unlimited digital usage, is a "likely model," Till writes.

The strategy made by news organizations for this model will have to change, Till writes, with sophisticated password systems for online content, stronger copyright limits to prevent text from being lifted, and a leverage of the "power the major newspapers have over their wire services."

Till expects that someone in the current generation will explain the reality that threatens a "critical piece of successful democracy."

Source: Las Vegas Sun via Editor and Publisher