Philadelphia Weekly

Warning, online news junkies: The free ride is about to end.

Newspapers across the country -- including Philadelphia, where the Inquirer and Daily News are in bankruptcy court -- are struggling to figure out how to deal with declining circulation and the resulting loss of advertising revenue. In recent months, a possible solution has emerged in secret meetings among the nation's leading newspaper execs: Start charging audiences for the online news they're now getting free of charge.

And Philly may lead the way.

Brian Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Newspapers, recently told Fox 29 that the Inquirer and Daily News would start charging readers to access online content on Philly.com. “I think by the end of this year we’ll start doing what a lot of other newspapers are looking at doing and charging something for it. We can’t spend $53 million on newsroom costs and give it away on the back door in terms of things. There will be a small charge for that.”

Tierney declined to talk to PW about his plans -- as did Inquirer editor Bill Marimow, Inky's online honcho Chris Krewson and Philly.com editor Wendy Warren. (Krewson had publicly Tweeted, prior to Tierney's announcement, that he didn't like the burgeoning "pay for content" movement.) But Tierney is probably getting some backing from his own newsroom: Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky launched a memorable rant against free news in a February column.

“We must stop the insanity-now It’s time for some brave publisher- Hello, Brian - to stand up and howl: ‘No more free content ’ This company should charge online visitors a small fee, maybe $5 a month, for our content-which is copyrighted, then sue the pants off anyone stealing i," Bykofsky wrote. "Should Google 'pick up' (steal) our stuff, if we successfully sued them for $1 billion, two good things happen: 1) Our money problems are solved; 2) everyone else will stop stealing our content. I know some say that you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

But will it work?

Rafat Ali is the founder, publisher, and editor of ContentNext, the parent company of PaidContent.org, which chronicles the economic evolution of digital content. And he is dubious.

“In general, I don’t believe that paid content for newspapers will be successful," Ali said. "The genie’s already out of the bottle. I started tracking paid content seven years ago when it first started. Now the debate is coming back again. From my perspective, things haven’t changed as to newspapers in that consumers expect content to be free even though the technology to charge for information has evolved. My opinions have changed as to music and video, as people are willing to pay for those things.”

Ali adds that charging for online content could drive away young readers. “There is a risk that charging for online content will drive away readers altogether. It’s already happening now. Younger people have already moved to the Internet. The challenge for newspapers is to keep and attract audience members and keep them from going to competing media outlets.”

That seems to be the case among Philly's young news readers. Based on my classroom discussions with my students, most of them aren't interested in paying for Philly.com.

“I read philly.com regularly. I’m on my computer all the time and I love being able to get the news online rather than go to the hassle of reading an actual newspaper. But I wouldn’t pay for it," says Summer Beckley, a communications major at Temple University. " It wouldn’t be worth it to me. Most college students, myself included, don’t have a lot of extra money to spend. If newspapers started charging for their online content, I think a lot of young people would just stop reading the news. If it’s online, free and easy to access, it will get read. But as soon as the news becomes difficult to get to, its readership is going to drop significantly. Charging people to read online content would take away the easiness factor that makes it so popular in the first place.”

So is there a way to make paid subscriptions for online news workable?

Susan Jacobson, assistant professor of journalism at Temple University, teaches new media and worked in the new media industry. She believes that the pay model can work -- but not as a flat fee for the entire paper.

“I think that newspapers may find themselves becoming increasingly niche audience publications, and mostly online through the Web and mobile devices," Jacobson says. "I love the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, but it is possible that if they want to stay general-interest publications they may have to charge for niche interests and use the profits from those areas to fund other areas of the news.

"For example, I'm not sure that I would pay for general business news that I could get from other sources for free on the Web, but I might pay for industry-specific news in Philadelphia, if the price were right. As an animal lover, I might pay for in-depth news, information and local online community related to animals in Philadelphia, if the price was right, and perhaps some of my money could be used to sponsor investigative journalism in a completely unrelated area.”

Ali agrees.

“Newspapers should not charge readers to access the entire paper,” Ali says. “That’s a big mistake. News is what the community decides. Most people won’t have interest in paying for the entire paper. Paying for certain parts of the paper might be worthwhile.”

He adds: "The most successful methods for charging for online content have been and will continue to be enthusiast based. Charging for one section, such as Sports, might work because of the loyalty and enthusiasm of readers about the topic. One problem though, is that professional teams have become media outlets as they publish content on their websites. They have better access to the players and can compete against newspapers, which no longer have the monopoly on content.

"Other niche areas where newspapers could successfully charge for would be columnists who have a loyal following, entertainment, local city news, and restaurant reviews. They could also take advantage of using online mobile and iPhone apps. Papers could use classified ads better on the phone and charge for that.”

No doubt, the paid content revolution of newspapers is coming. Time will tell whether readers will, in turn, revolt and refuse to go along.

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Larry Atkins teaches journalism at Temple University and Arcadia University