Talk Amongst Yourselves – Monetization

Occasionally, we’ll post about something that we may not discuss right away in #editorchat, but think it is important enough for you to have a look. And if it lives here, it will be much easier to find than a tweet buried in the stream.

Monetization has been a hot button for the media business for months. Today, Rupert Murdoch refuted earlier reports that he wants information to be free saying, “Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news Web sites.” You can read the full text in the NYT article, For Murdoch, It’s Try, Try Again by David Carr.

There is also a new report by Matthew Flamm of Crains New York Business Pay up or the newspaper gets it which discusses hybrid business models as a “freemium” approach similar to WSJ.com and others.

Does putting a premium on journalistic efforts guarantee profits? Is the hybrid monetization model inevitable?
Discuss.