Quote:
Originally Posted by manfred63
For which majority? The majority of internet forum users?
There is no newspaper that I've heard of that lets you pay-per-article in 2013. Maybe you're just projecting your wishes into reality.
The majority of newspaper readers still get and read and their printed copy on a daily basis.
If you'd pay-per-article, a simple and stupid news article about Britney Spears would get much more attention (and money) that a background article about, let's say, medical experiments in Angola. You know, there are actually journalists in Angola. And it may take weeks and months to get the facts for such an article. Pay-per-article would destroy independent journalism with is a fundamental basis for freedom and democracy.
If you've never read a in-depth-analysis in your newspaper: Take two bucks, go to the kiosk and buy yourself a better one. It's your choice which paper you read.
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I do subscribe to a newspaper, it publishes coverage of events local to my own community, but like most Americans I live thousands of miles from Washington DC. The WP covers local news too, as well as national news; like most cities, Washington DC is a company town--in this case the company is the US Federal Government and that's the only local news in DC that affects my life. I don't care who is getting married there or what the DC garden club is doing, but I do want to learn what reporters who follow the Government closely are finding out. The only police reports, street closures, block parties, etc. that affects me is printed in the local paper.
Amazon Coins make it possible for me to buy Post articles. Every credit card transaction includes a bank charge for the use of the CC so it's not profitable to charge 10 cents for anything bought with a credit card, but Amazon Coins solves this problem. I can buy 3,000 Amazon Coins for $30, pay one CC charge, and leave the Coins in my account for Post articles, purchased a few cents at a time.
I don't know if something like this is one of the things Jeff Bezos has in mind for the Washington Post but I hope so. It seems to work out for everyone.