What is a pay wall ? It is a system that prevents Internet users from accessing webpage content (especially news content and scholarly publications) without a paid subscription. History

Different types of pay wall 1)HARD 2) SOFT 3)COMBINATION

HARD PAY WALL Requires paid subscription before any online content can be accessed. News sites with “hard” paywall succeed if they:- A French analyst estimated that a website would lose 90% of its online audience and ad revenue. Provide added value to their content Target a specific audience Already dominate their own market

Soft pay walls Are embodied by the metered model. They allow access to select content outside of the pay wall. As long as the user has not surpassed the set limit. Examples. Financial Times allows access to 10 articles The New York Times allows access to 20, but since April 2012, it allows 10 free articles

Combination pay walls Combination pay wall strategy includes allowing free access to select content, while keeping premium content behind a pay wall. Content by junior staff its free. Noble content its behind a pay wall.

Example of newspapers with Paywall The NYT and London Times are among successful papers, with an estimated 100 000 and 80 000 readers respectively by mid- 2011 (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06- 23/murdoch-s-leap-finds-converts-in-cannes-as-paywall-users- grow.html The WSJ and FT also have successful sites with paywalls, presumably because they service niche markets. The Natal Witness was the first to do it in November 2009 The Daily Dispatch and the PE Herald went the same route in 2010. A senior source at the DD told us that before PW, they used to run Dispatch Online from EL and had around 120 000 unique users a month, had over 1-million page impressions a month They were regarded “as a model of how a converged newsroom should look like” . “Anyway, our site is now as good as dead. We are re-launching it though soon,” said the journalist.

The Sunday Times’ paywall On Sunday, the 17th of June 2012, the Sunday Times became the latest local news site to launch its own PW. When we clicked on its website on Sunday we got a message that says “good journalism comes at a price”. Upon inquiry, Avusa Live general Manager Derek Abdinor said ST content was no longer available on the site and that they were now offering “the iPad app and an e- edition”. He said one would require two subscriptions to access both the paper and its web edition, but said: “We are planning to bundle print and online subscriptions, but that is a large enterprise to synchronize the two (sic)” Abdinor also told The Media Online what they were doing was not a “paywall” but rather a “content block’. Mixed response from ST readers: “We’ve had mixed responses – some readers were annoyed that they could not get free content, others wanted to know more about how to use their e-editions,” says Abdinor.

Reasons why Newspaper erect Paywall Natal Witness: When newspapers are starved of revenue they can’t afford to give away news (Natal Witness). It is necessary for readers to pay to keep information flowing. (http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent& global[_id]=30451) Dispatch and Herald : A lot of online readers resided outside the Eastern Cape , and the idea was to convert them into paying subscribers for online content. Some people are prepared to pay for content Newsrooms will be encouraged to improve the quality of their online content. NewsCorp Australia: The papers are losing money and only exist because of subsidies from other parts of the organisation

Anti-paywall Arianna Huffington: We must find other models of generating revenue, protecting information doesn’t work because we are no longer living in the old content economy, we live in linked economy. Hufington: The future is in online journalism and foundation- supported investigative journalism (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/11/news papers-web-media-pay-wall?INTCMP=SRCH) Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger: Will remove the industry from the digital revolution which allows engagement with readers and will lead the industry “into a sleepwalk into oblivion” (video : http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/guardian- editor-paywalls). Readers simply migrate to free sites Newspapers are supposed to try and influence as many people as possible CELLPHONE

Will it work? The debate rages on on the internet. Perhaps specialist web publications can survive with a paywall So far it has not worked in South African news sites: e.g. The Daily Dispatch and the PE Herald. A lot of what is happening is experimental and the jury is still out.