REPORT - The Paywall Debate

Fri Dec 4 2009, 10:21 AM UTC

The debate over whether newspapers should employ internet paywalls is not a new one. It began even before publishers started putting their content online. It became fashionable during the dotcom boom-and-bust years, then went out of vogue as the world embraced P2P and web 2.0, before rearing its head again in these economically uncertain days. The logic is that advertising isn't working, but maybe subscriptions will. The problem is that the majority of current research suggests that these days few internet users are willing to pay for news. 

The current champion of paywalls is Rupert Murdoch, who suggests "all newspapers" could go out of business unless they erect paywalls and find a way to make them work. He has drawn Google firmly into the debate, accusing the search giant of "stealing news" and associated revenues, threatening to remove all News Corp content from Google search and opening talks with Microsoft about an exclusive search pact. He is not the only publisher to criticise Google and it is reacting. But whether it ultimately proves friend or foe to the newspaper industry is another debate and one that the book publishing industry might have something to contribute to. 

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