Why Charging For Newspaper Content Online Doesn’t Make Sense. One of the arguments that shows up here repeatedly is on the backwardness of local newspapers charging for online content. There are a number of reasons why it’s a bad idea – from the level of taking yourself out of the online discussion and believing that walled garden content can survive to misunderstanding the very basic economics of the internet. Still, many newspapers are trying to do so, and some even believe that it’s going well. Along comes Vin Crosbie, who knows both the newspaper business and the online content world, to smack a little sense into them. The Albuquerque Journal explained why they thought they were brilliant for creating a “successful” operation charging for their online content, and Crosbie picks apart the argument, bit by bit, and explains how they’re actually losing money on this plan – and how all their other examples of newspapers charging for online content are bad (or irrelevant) examples. If you’re interested in the economics of online content, it’s worth a read. [Techdirt]
