In the week the New York Times introduced digital subscriptions, a Canadian study shows that consumers just don’t want to pay for the news. An online survey of 1,682 adults, conducted by the Canadian Media Research Consortium (CMRC )and Vision Critical, showed that Canadians are overwhelmingly opposed to fees for content. It found that 92% of Canadians who get news online say they would find another free site if their favourite news site

In the quest for a new business model for journalism, Geoffrey M. Graybeal and Jameson L. Hayes, University of Georgia, made a case for a micropayment model at the International Symposium on Online Journalism. Their micropayment model is based on the notion of the social web. Their model has four strands. First is the idea of microearn which functions like a rewards program. A user pays for the article, but

The third panel at International Online Journalism Symposium tackled the big one: how can newspaper companies survive in the digital era. Session chair Earl Wilkinson, executive director and CEO, International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), set the tone by talking about headlines predicting the death of newspapers. But in his view, newspapers are facing an economic downturn, above all in the US and UK. As a result, the storylines on print

First panel at the International Online Journalism Symposium at UT Austin in Texas went to the heart of the problem facing the established media: business models in online journalism. Steve Outing started off by asking if we are trying hard enough, answering the question with a resounding, “No”. But he also criticised ideas of locking up content behind pay walls. Instead he offered some ideas for the newspaper industry –

Author Kevin Kelly is blogging as he writes his new book on technology, The Technium. A post highlighted by BoingBoing discusses the meaning of value in a digital world where the Internet “copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it”. Kelly goes on to argue that when “copies are super abundant, stuff which can’t be copied becomes scarce and valuable. When copies are free,

The news industry is still scratching around trying to find new ways of making money. Paul Bradshaw offers some ideas in a detailed post on new business models. The problems are well-known, and while web advertising is rising, online readers are simply not worth as much as print readers. The issue is rethinking business for a Internet age. This means shifting from seeing news as a physical product to seeing