

Stop putting the entire newspaper online - bootload
http://www.howardowens.com/2007/lets-stop-putting-the-entire-newspaper-online/

======
nickb
That doesn't work. So many newspapers tried it and failed miserably. Why
doesn't it work? Well, rarely is a single newspaper the only source of any
story. If you can't find it for free on one newspapers' site, you can find it
on some other site. NYTimes tried that and they abandoned this strategy
precisely because of the reason I stated. Then NYTimes tried charging for
archives but it wasn't very profitable and then they tried charging for
Opinion pages (which are unique!) but that didn't take off either.

News wants to be free and it is free. The question that everyone has been
asking is: would people pay for quality editing/editorial? And the answer is
no. :(

~~~
karzeem
The Wall Street Journal famously has a successful non-free website. That's
probably related to the fact that they're a business publication--those seem
to be able to get away more easily with charging for website access--but at
least it's one success (we'll see if they make more money on it when Murdoch
takes it free).

There are definitely things people will pay for online. It's just that most
newspapers haven't figured out what.

~~~
nickb
WSJ will be opened up very soon. Murdoch has said that he will open it up and
their two biggest competitors: FT and NYT have also opened up. It will be
impossible for them to stay closed.

------
jacobolus
Sounds like <http://www2.ljworld.com/> (original user of Django)

------
dfranke
This kind of product sabotage only works if you're a monopoly. Newspapers
aren't.

