Observer » Paywalls

The New York Times Paywall Will Be Back Up Soon

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:19:04 -0400

The New York Time lifted their paywall as a public service during the storm. But the storm's over, the recovery is slowly inching along and it's time to get back to business. And let's face it. Newspapers are business. So later today, the Times will begin charging again.

But, as the Times points out, you can continue getting unlimited access. Just click on the link. Oh, and, have your credit card ready. This news free-for-all is over. So start reading all those style pieces before it's too late. Maybe print out a few articles to read later, assuming you have a printer and electricity. And of course, readers who don't feel like shelling out the big bucks for all that news that's fit to print can still see 10 free articles a month. Who's going to know?

Storm Surge Threatens, Paywalls Recede

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 19:04:37 -0400

As Hurricane Sandy threatens to flood the city and the last subway (to say nothing of normal life itself) grinds to a temporary halt, some news outlets have decided to remove their articles from behind paywalls. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are letting readers use their websites to keep up the minute on weather-related news- free of charge.

“The gateway has been removed from the entire site and all apps. The plan is to keep it that way until the weather emergency is over,” Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy emailed Poynter's. The Times last suspended the paywall during Hurricaine Irene.

The Wall Street Journal Digital Network Managing Editor Raju Narisetti announced via Twitter this afternoon that weather-related Journal articles were free starting today and the rest of the website will be free starting tomorrow.

But, as Washington Monthly asks what of the ethics of reading non-storm related news behind a paywall if you are not paying? "Which raises a question: Is it unethical for non-subscribers who’ve eclipsed their monthly NYT reading limits to ingest news items not related to Sandy? I say yes," writes Washington Monthly.

We agree. Yes. It is going to be a long couple of days. Better get entertainment (and news) where you can find it. The booze is bound to run out soon.

Fake News, Real Paywall

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:27:16 -0400

News isn’t free, even if it's fake. The Onion announced that they are testing out a new paywall system.

If you live overseas, and read more than five satirical articles a month – time to get out your credit card.

Unless, of course, you are overseas serving the US, in which case read away.

The Onion explains: “It also won’t apply to areas where a lot of American troops are deployed in combat, as The Onion recognizes that it has a large fanbase in the armed forces, and it doesn’t wish to charge them for being overseas. They also have better stuff to worry about.”

While this is a good and noble idea, does it trouble anyone else that the armed forces is a “large fanbase” for the satirical news source? For example, an article earlier this summer ran with the headline: "U.S. Quietly Slips Out Of Afghanistan In Dead Of Night." Hopefully, the armed forces fanbase reads other papers, too.

The new system won't limit access to the homepage, individual sections or the non-fake culture pages (The A.V. Club). All of that content is still free, as is the print publication.

Overall, this new plan is fairly unobjectionable. It also doesn’t sound like a moneymaker. But maybe fake news fans, who are overseas, who aren’t in the armed forces and read English are a big enough demographic to make a dent in the production costs.

New Yorker to Change Online Subscription Sign-in Policy to Make Passwords Harder to Guess

Nate Freeman — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:56:21 -0400

Yesterday, Flood magazine posted an article that claimed it found a way to access the archives and paywall-protected content on the New Yorker's website. The trick was, Flood explained, to obtain an email address of a subscriber and try it as the password, too — unless the user opted to change the default settings, the account could be accessed by entering the email into both the username and password fields.

But this won't be the case for long. A public relations representative at The New Yorker told The Observer that they are working on a system that would force all users to create a custom password, thereby making it impossible for an impostor to log in simply by repeating the email address. Subscribers who previously stuck to the default option will be unable to access their account until they choose a new password.

On when the bug will be fixed, the representative said "We suspect it will be in the next day or so."

Also, The New Yorker denied they had received any contact from representatives at Flood magazine. The article that was posted yesterday claimed that Flood had reached out to the publication for a comment.

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

Politico to Launch Subscription News Service

Nate Freeman — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:36:00 -0400

Politico announced last night it will be launching Politico Pro, a subscription service that will provide reporting and analysis in the areas of health care, energy and technology to those who pony up the fee, The New York Times reports.

Since 2006, Politico has posted a wealth of content to its website and placed copies of its print edition in bins all around Washington, D.C., free for the taking. Now, the launch of a pay-for-content system will give the publication another source of income, and pit it against the longstanding subscription services offered by Congressional Quarterly and the recently bulked-up National Journal.

Executive editor Jim VandeHei says there's still a niche for Politico in the market. "There is a perception that this market is overserved, when we actually think it’s underserved," he told The Times.

The announcement came hours after the National Journal revealed its newly designed website and magazine, with both the subscription service and the coverage outside the paywall expanded.

Politico says it will bring on 50 new people to staff the project, and once it's available the subscriptions will start at $1,495 for congressional offices and $2,000 for lobbyists and contractors.

Politico.com will remain free.

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234