Edwy Plenel, former Le Monde editor in chief, launched his own news web site MediaPart after the success of similar French sites such as Rue89 and Bakchich. He chose to make a paid-for news site, which offers no place for advertisers in order to grant the users independent information.

 Edwy Plenel targets to reach 75 000 subscribers within three years with a subscription price announced between five and nine euros depending from the age and the financial condition of the subscribers to 15 euros and more for the “supporting” subscribers.

Four million euros are necessary to keep the site running for three years. Three million euros have been raised already, including 550 000 euros from Plenel’s private funds.

Most of the major US newspaper’s web sites which used this paid-for funding system decided to give it up. For instance, Rupert Murdoch has planned for Wall Street Journal’s site, the only one to remain paid-for, to become free and have 10 to 15 million readers all over the world rather than a mere million online subscribers. According to him that strategy will allow the company to make at least as much profit as was made by the subscription system.

This site currently charges it subscribers 99 dollars for an annual subscription or 49 dollars for those who already receive the print edition of the Journal. Of course, giving up this funding system would lead to a high increase of WSJ.com’s ad rates.

Rupert Murdoch, WSJ CEO, doesn’t seem to rely on his detractors’ arguments to make up his mind and is more and more likely to drive his news site toward a free of charge system.

Source: Liberation.fr through IFRA Executive News Service and b-to-b.com