Peddling smut apparently didn't pay the bills, so that Sioux Falls paper is now adopting a New York Times-like paywall, setting a monthly quota on the number of articles online readers can access before having to send money.
Publisher Randall Beck says that limiting access creates more access:
The backbone of this effort, months in the making, has been a rethinking of, and reinvestment in, our news coverage — not only the issues we cover, but when, how and where we cover them. I'm proud of what we're doing in this area — and I think you'll see a big difference. We're adding new sections, going much deeper on topics you care most about, and ramping up the interactivity of the civic conversation [Randall Beck, "Subscription Model Means More Access to Local News," that Sioux Falls paper, 2012.01.15].
I'm still trying to figure out how you "ramp up" the interactivity of civic conversation when only those members of the polis with extra drachmas are allowed in the online agora.
In related news, the Madville Times will remain paywall-free for the foreseeable future. Your contributions the Tip Jar (see the sidebar!) are welcome; your continued readership and commentary are even more welcome.
"...when only those members of the polis with extra drachmas are allowed in the online agora."
Very well written! Thanks for the smile.
Limiting access creates more access in a similar manner that limiting public comments to only one attributional means creates more public comments. (The Argus recent decision to only take comments via Facebook essentially turned public discussions in what should be the state's largest market place of ideas into a forum where one now hears crickets chirp.)
Limiting access creates more access...to the money that publisher has in the bank account.
More often than not you can find a link to a story behind a paywall somewhere else. Someone's going to link to it and it's then free.
C'est la vie, dead tree media in South Dak.
My guess is that the snail mail version of the paper will become even more mediocre because the internet subscription version has all the information. It is tough to buy the paper off a newsrack as it is now. Making it more mediocre by putting more news on a pay internet site won't make the paper more attractive. My most pessimistic prediction would be a one-month countdown by day to the start of the Argus complete demise.