1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Newsday to charge for Web access

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Frank_Ridgeway, Feb 26, 2009.

  1. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2625853520090226?rpc=44

    They don't have any real competition on Long Island, so why not?
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Well, at least three people will be paying for it while the rest get it from whatever source can figure out how to hit Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.
     
  3. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    That's the thing about charging for content. You better be prepared to be viglilant about enforcing copyright law.
     
  4. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    Absolutely impossible for anything but a small trickle of only the most important news to be disseminated that way via e-mail.

    If it shows up anywhere else -- major blogs or news collecting services -- take their ass to court.
     
  5. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    Isn't there a way to make text non-copy-and-pastable?
     
  6. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    There's a way to prevent c and v, but not a way to prevent a web page from being copied
     
  7. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Have fun trying. You may not have noticed, but the content-thieves of the world tend to be a few technological steps ahead.

    Not to mention the cost of policing will drive you out of business.
     
  8. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    You can disable right-clicking on sites, as well as highlighting text. Which makes it harder to use, but not impossible, because someone can type it out if need be.

    Copyright is a bit of an issue because if someone rewrites it, how can you prove the writer didn't get the information him/herself? If they write a story about something you can prove was an exclusive that no other outlet had, or with quotes that wouldn't have been uttered outside a one-on-one interview with the Press-Urluck reporter, that'd be one thing. Otherwise, you'd have a hard time proving it.

    I'm not a big fan of charging for access because I don't think enough people will sign on to counteract the possible damage to ad rates that take place when uniques and pageviews plummet. But it's also hard to judge without knowing exactly how they'll implement the plan (per-story charge? monthly charge? columnists only?). So I'm curious to see if they have something in mind that nobody's thought of yet.
     
  9. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    I don't know how to copy a newspaper's web page, and I don't have the time or desire to send the dozens and dozens of pages I'd have to copy to all my friends via e-mail.

    Maybe some people do have the know how. Maybe some have the time. A hell of a lot of the world doesn't though, and they don't know many people who do. And they'll have to start paying to get the product that cost a lot to produce. Or they won't get shit.

    Maybe they won't get shit. Maybe they'll all go elsewhere. I'm afraid one newspaper, even a big one, doing this will be a disaster. I wish I could see what happened if the top 50 papers all did, though.
     
  10. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    You don't take everyone court. You would go broke. You take the big dogs to court.

    It's not Joe who steals your content for the eight readers of his blog that will kill you. It's the massive, well known sites that kill you. They're not shady. They're not hard to find. You can damn sure sue them.

    Anyone big or good enough to attract a reasonable number of readers won't have the nads to test you if you slam one or two big names.
     
  11. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    This isn't true in music. It isn't true in TV, which more and more people are getting online. Why on earth will it be true with news?

    It'd take me 30 minutes to set up a web site with ad revenue that you could never trace to me in 30 years. And if you get it shut down, I'll set up another one.
     
  12. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    That's a good point, and obviously the largest hurdle. But you're still adding an extra step -- a step that requires someone do some work.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page