iNews

“Free is not a business model,” says Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research, as quoted by David Carr in the New York Times (1/12/09). “The notion that the enormous cost of real news-gathering might be supported by the ad load of display advertising down the side of the page, or by the revenue share from having a Google search box in the corner of the page, or even by a 15-second teaser from Geico prior to a news clip, is idiotic on its face.” As David Carr notes, “newspapers (long) assumed that as their print advertising declined it would be intersected by a surging line of online advertising revenue.”

Unfortunately, as David also observes, any such intersection would only happen “because the print revenue is saying hello (to online revenue) on its way to the basement.” David also points, with some jealousy, to the success of iTunes in converting potentially illegal downloaders into reliably paying customers. He also cites the success of Cook’s Illustrated in turning a profit while taking no advertising, and instead making money via a combination of subscriptions, newsstand sales, and “access to a databank of recipes.” Consumer Reports and the Wall Street Journal have also famously persuaded readers that their online content is worth paying for.

And so David asks the question: “Is there a way to reverse the broad expectation that information, including content assembled and produced by professionals, should be free?” After all, it wasn’t so long ago that people believed that entertainment, including music assembled and produced by professionals, should be free. Then along came Steve Jobs, who “saw music as something else — as an ancillary software business to generate sales of iPods and iPhones.” Could something like that happen in the news business? David Carr does see promise in a large-screen device, suitable for reading the news, provided there’s “a business model to go with it.” ~ Tim Manners, editor