Boston Globe drops paywall for Marathon coverage

From the @BostonGlobe Twitter account...

 

New York Times and Wall Street Journal follow suit...

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/210370/bostonglobe-com-other-sites-drop-paywalls-for-marathon-coverage/

 

It's a nice gesture, in all reality just because it's big breaking news doesn't mean people shouldn't have to pay, but I guess it's a good thing overall.

 

This is a tough one, but this is their product. People don't give their product away in times of need. That's how they become known as businesses.

All they are doing is conditioning people (or at least continuing with people who have already been conditioned) to believe that if there's anything ***really*** important, you can get it for free.

 

Or it builds good will and makes it more likely people will come to you at other times and maybe see value in paying for access in general. Not saying that's how it works out, but it isn't some random act of kindness.

 

That doesn't work. The last 15 years should be proof enough.

 

There's a difference between everything free in 14 of those years and the increase of paywalls in the past year. I'd say we just don't know yet.

 

I agree. You will not see your cable company deducting money from your bill for all the CNN/Fox News/MSNBC you might have watched. The papers at the gas stations around Boston won't be free, will they?

 

Well, because they know apples aren't oranges

 

I really didn't have an opinion on this when I posted this, but the arguments for not taking down the paywall just make more sense.

 

Furthermore, this is the time when people will shell out for that credible local news source. The biggest thing for any subscription-based company is figuring out how to get the credit-card information the first time. People generally will stick with a product once they don't have to remember to pay for it. It's about getting them to buy it in the first place.

Giving away your product when it is at peak demand is a terrible business strategy.

 

There is an element of civic responsibility at play, particularly with some of what the Globe was doing as far as setting up ways for people to contact each other, find places to stay, etc.

That being said, when a hurricane hits Florida, Publix doesn't give away water and Home Depot doesn't give away generators. And all those emergency responders are going to get paid for the hours they worked too.