Live~NRGY

While I applaud online news business models for shifting to paywalls, the main issue that they will be faced with will be how people circumvent around them. For sure the paper models in the digital age are equivalent to dinosaurs. Costs incurred to get, print, distribute papers is not getting any cheaper by the day. Add the fact that day old papers can’t match instant news updates and the reason is crystal clear.

For myself, I’ll be shifting to open source news outlets, whether good or not to get my news fix. It’s a matter of economics just as well as plain old common sense. If it’s free, why paper – I’m sure is what most people surfing the net argue.

Newspapers online will have to find the right balance between offerings that will entice people to want to pay for stories. As I have mentionned in the past, integrity, in depth investigations, relentless questioning and critical thinking will probably be the basis for which people will want rather than shun paying.

Without that, I would consider a paywall no different than any other news on the net that’s free. Questionable at best, entertainment for the day as a prescription fix for the humor of the soul. As the old saying goes, an apple a day….. Remembering that the original Apple metaphor was what put us all into this bind to begin with.