Decline, Newspaper News - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 17:09 - 0 Comments

Everyone is Going Nuts about NYTimes.com Charging for Content in 2011

I heard through Twitter that NYtimes.com was going to start charging for access to their content if you read too many articles on their site… what?

Forbes is calling it “Meter Madness At The Times” and goes on to report-

Greg Mitchell, E&P’s former editor, termed the plan “vague.” Content Bridges’ Ken Doctor called it “a big bet.” Social media critic Mathew Ingram, blogger at GigaOm, wrote, “Why is the NYT waiting until 2011? This isn’t exactly rocket science to implement.” Reuters’ media blogger Felix Salmon minced no words, calling it “a sad day for online journalism.”

I confirmed it by doing a Google News search and then reading an article about it from the Free site Paidcontent.org where they also published the entire NYT memo to the staff.

I wish NYTimes.com all best I’m curious to see how this grand experiment (Round 2) works out. Remember Times Select was a failure, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can’t charge for general interest news in the internet paradigm.