Thursday, March 18, 2010

No Free Reading


I like to read news online – even though I still buy newspaper. Some of my favorite news portals are BBC Online, Singapore-based Channel News Asia, and Malaysia’s The Star. However, in a few years, I may need to fork out some money in order to read the news on these sites.

Media heavyweights are mulling over plans to charge for news online. Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal online has already required its readers to pay a subscription fee. New York Times may follow suit in 2011. This may signal the beginning of the end of free online news.

The news media has good reason to charge for news online. They can’t make enough money from online ads, or so we are told. Will readers be willing to pay for full access to the news portals? This is certainly possible. After all, music fans have already been downloading MP3 music for a fee.

One possible impact of the news by subscription is that Web search may become less relevant. Google will give us results which we can’t read. How will the search giant respond?

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11 comments:

  1. Tekkaus3/18/2010 9:11 PM

    So just don't read bro. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. wenn3/18/2010 11:13 PM

    if u really need to read online, then paying a fee is justifiable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. xin3/19/2010 9:27 AM

    i think it's just a matter of time before we need to pay for everything we read online. i wonder how much longer print can sustain their business

    ReplyDelete
  4. HappySurfer3/19/2010 2:39 PM

    That will be a sad day when that happens because I do read quite a bit online.

    ReplyDelete
  5. khengsiong3/19/2010 4:05 PM

    tekkaus
    I like to read news...

    wenn
    Hopefully still cheaper than buying the hard copy from news stand.

    xin
    I also believe sooner or later we need to subscribe.

    happysurfer
    I'm sad too :'(

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3/19/2010 5:09 PM

    I read The Star on line.

    ReplyDelete
  7. [SK]3/19/2010 7:13 PM

    i think it's acceptable to introduce a fee or subscription, afterall they need revenue to keep things running right??

    ReplyDelete
  8. foongpc3/19/2010 11:19 PM

    That's bad news!! Yes, I wonder how will Google respond to this!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sam Wong3/20/2010 5:25 AM

    huh...no free to read ah...better u stop to read lo..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3/20/2010 10:02 AM

    Some French newspapers I used to read require a subscription too now. I'd pay but then I want an ad-free website - it would be fair, right?

    ReplyDelete
  11. khengsiong3/20/2010 8:43 PM

    Mei Ting
    Wondering how long will it remain free.

    SK
    So you think this is justified?

    foongpc
    If Google can help them turn a profit with ads, maybe we still can read for free.

    Sam
    Can't help. I must read news.

    Zhu
    Well, the hard copy newspapers are still ad-free.

    ReplyDelete

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