Pay Up, People

A U.S. publisher of local and regional newspapers has announced that it will begin charging for online content from all its papers, according to a MediaDailyNews article.

Management at the MediaNews Group, which publishes the Denver Post and Detroit News along with more than 50 other daily papers, said the company will:

* Stop reproducing all its print content online, meaning some stories will only appear in the newspapers.

* Craft online content to reach a younger audience.

* Require online users who are not subscribed to the print edition to register and pay a fee to read stories online.

A memo to staffers, released two weeks after an executive conference on interactive media, described the new strategy for monetizing content: "We are not trying to invent new premium products, but instead, tell our existing print readers that what they are buying has real value, and to our online audience (who don't buy the print edition), that if you want access to all online content, you are going to have to register, and/or pay... The brand value proposition to the consumer is that the newspaper is a product, whether in print or online, which must be paid for."

The question of whether readers will balk at paying for something they're accustomed to getting for free was not addressed. Aside from specialist publications such as The Wall Street Journal, few newspapers have been successful charging for content.