Community Newspaper to Charge for Online Subscription
By Gina Cuclis
No More Free Access to the Sonoma Index Tribune
Would you pay to access your community newspaper online? The publisher of the Sonoma Index Tribune, Bill Lynch, hopes the answer is yes. He announced, in the current issue of the twice-weekly Index Tribune, that starting September 1 you will need a subscription to read his paper online. A web only subscription fee is $5 a month. A subscription to a combination of the web and print editions, along with the Index Tribune's quarterly Sonoma magazine, is $10 a month.
Contrary to Survey Results
Polls asking people who read news online if they would pay to read newspapers online repeatedly indicate they won't. So this is a bold move for the Index Tribune. Compounding the question about whether it'll get much response, is that the Sonoma Valley has two community newspapers. And the other one — the weekly Sonoma Sun — can be picked up free at locations throughout Sonoma Valley.
What's your reaction to this business decision? If you currently read the Sonoma Index Tribune online, would you pay to continue doing so? Please leave a comment.
No More Free Access to the Sonoma Index Tribune
Would you pay to access your community newspaper online? The publisher of the Sonoma Index Tribune, Bill Lynch, hopes the answer is yes. He announced, in the current issue of the twice-weekly Index Tribune, that starting September 1 you will need a subscription to read his paper online. A web only subscription fee is $5 a month. A subscription to a combination of the web and print editions, along with the Index Tribune's quarterly Sonoma magazine, is $10 a month.
Contrary to Survey Results
Polls asking people who read news online if they would pay to read newspapers online repeatedly indicate they won't. So this is a bold move for the Index Tribune. Compounding the question about whether it'll get much response, is that the Sonoma Valley has two community newspapers. And the other one — the weekly Sonoma Sun — can be picked up free at locations throughout Sonoma Valley.
What's your reaction to this business decision? If you currently read the Sonoma Index Tribune online, would you pay to continue doing so? Please leave a comment.
Posted by Gina Cuclis at 8/30/2010 11:21 AM 
Categories: Journalists, Newspapers
Tags: Sonoma Sun Sonoma Index Tribune newspapers paying for news
Categories: Journalists, Newspapers
Tags: Sonoma Sun Sonoma Index Tribune newspapers paying for news
The price is fine, in fact our household is paying $35/year for Club Aqus and there's really no content there yet, but I don't see any content at SonomaNews.com or promise that it'll be there.
The headline right now: "Anyone order fried grapes?". The subheading gets that this isn't a culinary thing, but clicking through gives me a story that's entirely single-sourced.
If I care about such things, I'll find a similar single source and ask what the heat's done to their crop.
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Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I think there are people like you who are willing to pay for content they think is of quality. Newspapers are having a very difficult time finding a profitable business model in the digital age. When a business reduces staff due to lack of revenue, it can become a downward spiral if the quality of the product declines so that people aren't compelled to pay for it.
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Agreed. And I hate to beat the "The readers are the product, not the customers" drum too hard, but I think we're also seeing a changing economy: The people I know with stores and small retail presences don't see the local newspapers as allies in building a local economy that supports them (In fact several of those folks see the Argus and the PD as enemies in their efforts) and the other small businesses I know of have a national or international customer base, so local advertising means nothing to them.
So, and this is a relatively new realization on my part, I think the shift to publishing on the web is more than just convincing the advertisers to come along, it's that people running local businesses are now more concerned with building community than with profit, in fact in many cases the store fronts and cafés are more about socializing and vanity than business, and that the other small businesses now see the net as their customer base, and geographically localized advertising doesn't buy them anything there.
But that could just be me being cranky early in the morning.
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Gina - I often wonder - even if the paywall pays off in the short term, isn’t the longterm price of a weaker readership base too high? It would be interesting to see how the Sonoma Index Tribune does under this business model.
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I understand the need to make a profit and the difficulty for traditional print media (or any media for that matter) to find the revenue stream. However, just because it would be sad to see something go does not mean the consumer must support something simply to keep it around. Content has always been king but in this economy it is even more so. For a media outlet to survive (or profit) the content must be fresh, topical, and relative. Single-source reporting on things happening in my backyard is simply not something I am willing to pay for.
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A consumer has to think the content is of value if he or she is going to be motivated to pay for it. Thanks for your input.
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I think they may become disappointed with the numbers who are willing to pay. It'll be interesting.
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