The Boston Globe

[dsrtao]

$36/month -- delivered paper.
$17/month -- web access to "the electronic edition" -- PDF
$10/month -- Kindle edition
Free -- http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/?p1=GN_TodaysGlobe

Also free:

http://news.google.com
http://www.universalhub.com

Comments

[hungrytiger]

True; though when enough people drop their subscriptions, the Globe will no longer be able to pay their reporters and journalists and then what? The Globe's investigation of the Catholic church sex scandal cost a couple million in investigative research (not to mention all of the time and legwork in tracking down leads and evidence). I don't see bloggers picking up that slack and without a capable fourth estate to act as a watchdog, I think we'll be in a bad place.

And Google news (as well as Yahoo News and most blog news sites like the Universalhub you mentioned), just links to and/or recycles other news articles that they get for free, which still doesn't help reporters get paid for their work.

A while back, the national assoc. of newspaper publishers agreed to keep the news stories they post the the web free. Clearly, that business model isn't working well. One item I heard that is a possible ray of hope for a newspaper industry in dire need of change was that Obama was reportedly considering allowing papers to reestablish themselves as not-for-profit entities and get better tax breaks under that. I'm not sure if it would work, but it's an interesting idea.

[dsrtao]

The basic problem is that I want to support good journalism, and good journalism is about 25-45% of the Globe by page count, and rather less by budget dollars.

No, I don't have an answer. I do think that (a) this is the end of many major newspapers as physical entities and (b) the Globe doesn't know what to charge for electronic access, but whatever it is, it will be wrong.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Holding the paper in your hands and clipping articles -- priceless.

The web will never replace that, and you do nto get the ad stuffs, which can save you that much money anyway.

I am an old-school purist. I need the ink on my fingers.

And don't forget with the web stuff, unless you are at a library, you bought teh computer and you *are* paying for access [a fraction fo which goes for accessing the Globe, I know], and for a Kindle, well, yeah, that costs something, too.

Though I am excited about the new, alrger Kindle.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Charging anything for electronic access is a bad idea.

There's just no model for it that can really work.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, there is one newspaper in the country like that (there may be more, I am unsure), and I used to work there.

It's called The Day newspaper, and it's a 35,000 daily and Sunday that is based in New London, Conn.

When Ted Bodenwein died, he left the paper in trust to the Bodenwein Foundation. The only use of profits allowed are -- increasing salaries for the employees, phsyical improvements to the buildings or charitable donations.

The IRS tried to break the trust and failed.

Nonetheless, the paper has frozen salaries and has laid folks off.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, it was one of the best-paying small dailies in the country, and there are a lot of folks still there who were there when I got there in 1986 or were hired just after that.

[hungrytiger]

Good points.

I like getting the Sunday Globe, but you're right that most of it could be thrown out and I wouldn't miss it a bit (and the Globe is arguably one of the better newspapers in the country).

Micropayments might be an answer. 5 cents per article through some autopayment system (or you could pay $5/year for access to a section). Just a thought.

In any case, the whole industry will have to change soon and it's going to be interesting to watch.

[dsrtao]

The Globe has rather few coupons in it, because it doesn't have a sufficiently good match-up between the audience and the potential advertisers.

My local pizza places can't afford to advertise in the Globe, and most people who read the Globe aren't close enough for delivery. But the local paper does carry pizza ads and coupons, because there's a good match-up. Similarly, the Globe doesn't want to waste space on the high-school sports games (although it occasionally covers a team that's doing really well) but the local paper does have readers who care about it.

I don't think that local newspapers are going away. They provide value well-matched to their audiences. (Their costs go down, too -- a reporter no longer has an office, they get laptops, cellphones and cellmodems.)

There's also a 'digital divide' issue, of course. Not everyone is online. But it's clear that enough of the Globe's potential audience is online, that they don't have a business model any more.

[its-just-me.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. If it closes I won't think twice.

[elizabear.livejournal.com]

I hate micro payments. I really prefer a flat fee for access.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I was thinking specifically grocery coupons, both store-specific and generic.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

It has been a very long time since I've seen a grocery coupon that was worth the time to cut it out. 50 cents off of 12 cans of soup and things like that is what I tend to see. Are you seeing better coupons?

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

It's like anything else.

If you clip what's there are use it, you save a little.

If you combine it with store sales and double coupons, you can do a lot better.

I know folks who do this (including my wife).

She always wants the Stunday papers, and she prefers I get them in certain areas, because some editions have better coupons.

There is also a whole new world of coupons on the web, which doesn;t reallt pertain to my point. ;)