Newport Daily News struts, blinks [update]

By John McDaid | Thursday, 3 September 2009

The Newport Daily News got a lot of press earlier this year with their plan to charge much more for their online version (story on Nieman Journalism Lab, my earlier coverage here) and this week, while a Newsweek story was touting their success at adding 200 newsstand sales (though there's no 'compared to what,' this being the summer and all...) the paper was also sending out e-mails offering "limited time" online access to people outside Newport County for yearly subscription rates of $129/year, about half off.

And I just have to share this little tidbit from the Newsweek piece. According to Daily News Asst. Publisher William F. Lucey III,

"Sherman Publishing now is planning to launch a hyperlocal, or community site, under a different URL. Though it's still being developed, Lucey says the it [sic] will include hometown information, including listings, maps, blogs, and even some news."
— via Newsweek

Ooooh. Imagine that. A hyperlocal site. And they'll even have some...news.

I can't wait.

Update: Now with screen grab of Newsweek's typo.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871, media ecology, NDN

Comments

craigi

Thu, 09/03/2009 - 8:13pm

Well, I tried to tell them...when they set those amazingly high prices...that the actual VALUE was much less. My suggested price to them was about $80 a year.

Mark my words. It will be available for that.

Maddie_C

Thu, 09/03/2009 - 9:53pm

I'm a hard copy paper subscriber and I got an email offering me the online version for $129 a year. I thought about it for 3 seconds then thought -- nah, maybe if it's $50.

But maybe not even then. The problem I have with the value proposition is that they are offering, literally, the exact thing you get in hard copy. Nothing more and nothing less. No hypertext links, like from "letters to the editor" to the original articles the letters are about. No capability for online reader comments. Nothing interactive, no multimedia. Just the exact same thing I get delivered in the afternoon. I'm not sure I see any value at all in paying for the privilege of seeing the paper online 4 hours earlier.

Viking

Fri, 09/04/2009 - 9:15pm

I concur with you, Maddie. In fact, the reality is even worse: I got the same e-mail from the NDN. In the finer print, is the fact that the Special Offer of Only $129/year is ONLY good for NON-NEWPORT COUNTY RESIDENTS. I don't really know about you - but that counts me out!

Portsmouth Sailor

Fri, 09/04/2009 - 11:42am

I was shocked to see that The Economist picked this up in their 8/24-9/4 newspaper. This was the copy:

"Print subscribers are often-but not always-allowed to read articles free of charge. Everybody else must pay, often quiet a lot. The Newport Daily News, a small Rhode Island newspaper, recently began charging $345 per year for online access to stories.

Few opt to pay such sums....."

The article goes on to discuss a similar experience at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

"In fact, the Democrat Gazette's pay wall is more of a revenue dam, intended to stop the flow of readers (and, thus, advertisers) away from print. Since 2002, when the paper began charging online, its average daily circulation has dropped by less than 1% a year - rather better than most."

Could it be possible that the NDN made this high price tag to to stem the loss of print readers? Were they really that clever?

Interesting to see our local in The Economist though.

Portsmouth Sailor