Is paid content more valuable – and more reliable – than free content?
This is an important question in light of Pew Research’s recent survey that most Americans now get their news online. There’s no doubt that there is plenty of free material available on the Internet that is reliable. Newspapers, including the New York Times and USA Today, post their articles online for free (at least for the time being). The same goes for most magazines – from TIME and Newsweek to Sports Illustrated to Forbes. But is this really free content? I’d argue that the online properties of offline publications aren’t truly offering “free” content. It is subsidized content. In other words, it is paid content that is being given away. As I’ve argued before – free isn’t a good business model for journalism and I don’t believe the current state of “free” for newspapers and magazines is sustainable. So for the time being let’s remove newspapers, magazines and other subsidized content from the argument (I’d also include here the online web sites for TV and cable stations and radio s
