I'm an independent journalist working to create a new kind of news organization. In Rethinking News, I explore the state of the news business and ways

We're finally figuring out how to pay for news

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2021-06-08 02:30:04

I'm an independent journalist working to create a new kind of news organization. In Rethinking News, I explore the state of the news business and ways to make it better. Please support the project by subscribing. It's free.

A major turning point in the history of online journalism came on March 28, 2011, when the New York Times erected a paywall for its website. Nerds like me were confident that it wouldn't work, but we were wrong: it was a stunning success.

The consequences are still reverberating through the news industry. By 2020, the Times had more than 6 million digital news subscribers and almost $600 million in digital subscription revenue.

The success of the Times paywall provided new cause for optimism after a grim decade for the news business. Before 2011, efforts to get readers to pay for news had fizzled. Digital ad revenue hadn't grown quickly enough to prevent wave after wave of layoffs. If other news sites could replicate the Times model, it could allow the news business to start growing again.

Unfortunately, paywalls turned out to be a winner-take-all phenomenon. The Washington Post copied the Times playbook and built its own substantial subscription business. But second- and third-tier newspapers—and other smaller publications—have had much less stellar results. That has produced a growing concentration of journalistic talent, as the Times and the Post have poached star reporters from other newsrooms.

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