Paywalls: the good news and the gamble

Podcasts

The Australian’s online paywall is up and running. The New York Times has announced strong subscriber figures. Peter Clarke discusses the prospects for paid content with Gordon Crovitz, Sophie Black and Jason Wilson

Peter Clarke 2 November 2011 138 words

Stephen Rees/Flickr

With the Australian’s online paywall up and running, Peter Clarke talks to the former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Gordon Crovitz, Crikey editor Sophie Black and the University of Canberra’s Jason Wilson about the Australian’s experiment, the success of the New York Times’s “porous paywall,” and the broader challenge of persuading readers to pay for online content.

Listen here

Guests

Gordon Crovitz, Co-Founder of Press+

A longer version of the interview with Mr Crovitz is available here

Sophie Black, Editor of Crikey

Jason Wilson, Assistant Professor in Journalism at the University of Canberra

And former CEO of the Financial Review Group, Michael Gill, responds to this discussion for Inside Story

Reading

The Australian’s paywall explained

The New York Times paywall: How it works

September 2011 online subscriber figures for the New York Times

Peter Clarke is a Melbourne-based broadcaster, writer and educator who teaches at RMIT and Swinburne universities. He pioneered national talkback on Australian radio as the inaugural presenter of Offspring (now Life Matters) on ABC Radio National. Podcast theme created by Ivan Clarke, Pang Productions. Thanks to RMIT University’s School of Media and Communication for the use of their studio.