NOT a Guru!
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Back in April, I wrote about the Associted Press’ plans to go after websites that are publishing its content for free and without a license. To me, it makes business sense. The news service is paying journalists to research and write the news. Sometimes journalists are risking their lives to get stories. It is wrong to reap the benefits by stealing content. I don’t see much difference between busting into someone’s office and taking their laptops vs. publishing verbatim someone else’s content, without credit and/or word-for-word.
In a related note, reading the news online for free may become a thing of the past.
With newspapers facing declines in advertising revenues, I am noticing a trend that the major publishers will be charging for access so that they can stay afloat. Quite frankly, I thought this would happen years ago. It is ridiculous to expect newspapers to charge for their print media, yet put it online for free. They are businesses and need revenue to keep producing content.
The UK’s Guardian reported earlier this week that Rupert Murdoch plans to start charging access to all of his news sites by next summer. He also indicated that a vigorous campaign will be launched against sites that are using his newspapers’ content and images for free.
The Guardian also reported on the Financial Times’ plans to start charging access to its content. It wll have a “pay per article” system in place by next summer as well as its subscriber access. It is evaluating whether it will continue to offer any free content.
The New York Times is considering a $5 per month access fee for its online content, according to the Silicon Alley Insider.
This trend represents an opportunity for web publishers, in my opinion, to write creative and unique content that has newsworthy value. Over the years, movie documentaries that give an alternative look at news and culture have become more popular and are often produced by individuals who are not part of “mainstream media.” I think the same thing will evolve on the Internet, making it a richer experience.
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My company uses Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to generate content it is cheap (less than 5 bucks for an article) and the content generated is actually pretty good.