Digital debate: Newspaper editors' approaches to online access fees and whether readers are willing to pay them.

摘要

As the U.S. newspaper industry continues to experience declines in advertising revenue, print circulation, and staff sizes, editors are searching for new ways to generate revenue. Many U.S. newspapers are implementing online access fees or considering them. This study sought to identify how willing readers are to pay online access fees, how editors are approaching the idea of charging for online content, and how readers' and editors' approaches to, or ways of dealing with, online access fees compare to each other.;A Web-based survey of 500 online newspaper readers administered during a six-week period in the fall of 2010 found that 87 percent of online newspaper readers get most of their news for free, and the average respondent disagreed with a statement that he/she would be willing to pay to read newspaper stories online. A series of thee-to-face, in-depth interviews conducted with 15 U.S. newspaper editors during a 10-week period in the fall of 2010 found that newspapers were either taking a wait-and-see approach to deciding whether to implement online access fees, or they were preparing to add online access fees in 2011 with concerns. The latter group expressed concerns about alienating readers and by charging for content, creating resentment that may result in fewer visitors to their Web sites.;This study shows that online newspaper readers see the content on newspaper Web sites as having little or no monetary value even if they previously subscribed to newspapers, and it shows that newspaper editors are approaching the decision of whether to implement online access fees with the same wait-and-see technique that they used when deciding whether to establish Web sites.;KEYWORDS: newspapers, journalism, Internet, news, media