With every week that goes by on my course, I thank my lucky stars that I want to be a broadcast journalist.
With every guest lecture we have, the doom and gloom surrounding print journalism seems to grow.
Rob Andrews, editor of Paid Content UK, did little to assuage these fears.
Rupert Murdoch, along with some others in the world of newspapers, believe that creating paywalls – blocking full access to material unless you pay – can stave off the death knell for print journalism.
Rob showed us that this is probably not the answer.
A poll commissioned by Paid Content UK shows that few people are prepared to pay for news online and that of those who would, most would want a year subscription for less than a tenner.
This doesn’t bode well for broadsheets who charge around £300 for a year’s subscription in print.
Of course, some have charged successfully for online content.
The Financial Times is one of those, but they have specialist content that really can give businesses an edge (or stop them from falling behind).
‘Normal’ news cannot make any such claim.
So what’s the answer?
I’m afraid I’m too tied up with broadcasting to come up with one… *grins*
Of course, there is the theory that Murdoch wants to charge for content in order to drive people back to the paper… we shall see.
