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What Would You Pay for Access to Your Local Paper's Website?

Mark Glaser

by Mark Glaser, March 2, 2012

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Does information really want to be free? Or do we all just want to get all the news that's posted online for free? Local newspapers have been struggling to figure out a business model for making money online and in digital platforms -- the main places where their readers want to get news. While the Wall Street Journal has charged for access to much of its WSJ.com site for years, and the Financial Times has pioneered the use of a "metered pay wall" (get a certain number of stories free per month, then pay up), many local newspapers in the U.S. have been hesitant to try pay walls. That's slowly changing, as now 10 percent of newspapers now have a pay wall of some sort, according to analyst Ken Doctor. So what would you pay for access to your local paper online? $5 per month? More or less? Vote in our poll and explain why in the comments below.


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Metered pay walls are coming to various newspapers. But will they work? (Photo by CeeDave via Flickr)

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