The Price of Information

Professor Huber sits down in front of his class, a copy of the Times Union, crumpled and folded, lies in a heap on the table in front of him. He had just asked them what the future of the news industry will be. Does information want to be free or expensive? Maybe the question is better posited as: do people want information badly enough to shell out some dough for it?

Huber picks up a section of the paper and proclaims loudly that one cannot walk out of Stewarts or any other store with this paper without paying for it first. This is a great claim indeed and would be true if people weren’t strolling out of the stores all the time with a free copy of the Times Union tucked neatly into their computers.

My classmate, Reid Buchanan, said that the argument is over, that people already made their decision, and they are not going to pay for the content that the Times Union, and others, is already giving away for free. So how does information gain back its price tag? Buchanan thinks the information that can sell is information “that solves a problem” or is “information you have to have,” which he likens to the Wall Street Journal’s financial coverage or ESPN’s sports news.

But where does general news coverage fit into this? We know it’s necessary for people to know what is going on in their world and to have good, unbiased reporters tell them. Yet, how willing are people to actually pay that reporter that wants to earn a living doing this when someone else will offer something similar for free?

I talked about The New York Times pay wall previously. Jay Rosen says “It’s a gamble” Michael Wolff describes it as a “Hail Mary strategy.” But what if they’re wrong?

I suggested in class that an online pay model may work if it’s built around a niche. There are niche markets online for many things. Why not journalism? The Wall Street Journal has a big niche: financial news! There are many investors willing to toss a few bucks at financial experts that spew information that’ll net them some positive gains or at least some good insight. Insight seems to be a key word.

One of my classmates mentioned ESPN Insider, which supplements the site’s basic sports coverage with exclusive blogs and juicy news tidbits.

But sports and finance are only two niches and there are infinitely more of them. Another example, video game ezine The Escapist, serves up biting editorials and game news from talented writers and buoys this with a Publisher’s Club membership that offers mobile and tablet access and an advertising free version of their site, along with HD, or HTML5, video. The same thing can go for VIP access to celebrities in entertainment or access to in depth reporting from countries across the globe. Pop your interests into a virtual shopping cart and you're ready to check out.

“This is about the “app mentality.” People are clearly willing to pay for content and experiences that they consider valuable and important,” says Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Chairman of The New York Times Company. So, maybe The New York Times isn’t as out of touch as some say they are. The Times needs to foster this “app mentality” and other newspapers need to take notice. Sell your paper piecemeal and maybe the audience will like every section so much they’ll give the whole thing a chance.

Here’s a new depiction of the family dividing up the paper. Dad has a paper copy of the business section on the couch. Junior scans the sports section on his laptop, while Sis dabbles in the entertainment section on her phone, all while Mom checks the local section on the desktop. Each walks away with a section of news that they care about and within each section is a group of reporters that they can, hopefully, remain loyal enough to support.