The New York Times is reportedly considering charging users for online access to the paper. At an event this weekend, a paper spokesperson indicated that the NYT was looking at the possibility of charging for some of its online content, whether that would mean the news that most people read or special select content is unclear.

The comment was made by Arthur Sluzberger who said that the paper was considering all kinds of possibilities to stay afloat including charging around $60 a year for users to have access to special content on the site (possibly similar to the ill-fated Times select service years ago).

Sluzberger said, “The immediate future looks, at a minimum, grim…traditional revenue streams are anemic and getting worse.”

The situation at the Times is evident throughout the entire paper industry. Even before the recession hit, people simply weren’t purchasing newspapers. The majority of people have started to look to other sources to get their news, in many cases new websites and blogs over the actual physically paper. The decline of the newspaper industry, now coupled with a recession where businesses are less likely to advertise- makes for a dire situation for even old traditional papers like the Times.

The idea certainly brings up the question of whether or not anyone would pay for the service. I love reading news (I’m a bit of a junkie as the case may be) but I would much rather read CNN’s website or another free news outlet than pay the Times $60-plus a year for hearing their news. I just personally have an aversion to paying for content that I know I can find for free elsewhere.

Would you consider paying for the New York Times? What price point would you want the paper to be at before you’d be willing to pony up the cash for it?

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm under Internet, Social Media.

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