James Joyner notes this brief story that states that starting September, the op/ed columns at the NYT will be for-fee.
This is as an odd move for a variety of reasons:
1) It is it the reverse of what the WSJ does: which is charge for news, and give away at least most of its op/eds.
2) I don’t read all the Times’ columnists now and they think I’m going to pay for the privilege? And gee whiz–it ain’t like there aren’t columnists at WaPo, the LAT and elsewhere for me to read. Indeed–much of the best commentary is on blogs anyway…
3) Since many of these columnists are syndicated, it is possible to read them in other papers–although I would assume that there would be a blocking of any electronic posting of, say, Dowd’s pieces.
4) And if one of these folks actually said something interesting, surely a blogger with access would just post the interesting parts on their blog. As such, we would all just read Mr. X’s blog instead of the NYT.
“I would assume that there would be a blocking of any electronic posting of, say, Dowd’s pieces.”
How much is *that* service? Because I’d definitely pay for that.
Comment by Steven L. — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 4:04 pm
Ye hath a pointe…
Comment by Steven Taylor — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 4:05 pm
Steven, You may not read those op-eds (I rarely do either), but if you look at the most e-mailed articles, the columnists allways seem to dominate at NYTimes.com.
I dont know if this is an accurate stand-in for most page views, but I would assume that the Times thinks they are popular enough to merit some people willing to pay.
Comment by kappiy — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 5:56 pm
Interrupting the two-step flow
James Joyner links a MarketWatch piece that claims the New York Times is going to put its op-ed columnists behind a subscription wall; the Times has confirmed this in its own article. While comparisons to New Coke may be premature,…
Trackback by Signifying Nothing — Monday, May 16, 2024 @ 11:45 pm
I dont know if this is an accurate stand-in for most page views, but I would assume that the Times thinks they are popular enough to merit some people willing to pay.
But there’s the rub. There are plenty of things I enjoy doing for free that I would not do if I had to pay for them. Reading new york times articles is one of those things.
Of course, if everyone takes their content back to a subscription basis, then we’ll all just ignore them and find other things to do with our time. I’m sure that’s what they want.
Comment by bryan — Tuesday, May 17, 2024 @ 10:43 am