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As newspapers across the country mull whether or not to charge for online content the Miami Herald decided to go straight to its readers and ask for donations.
From NBCMiami.com
This holiday season, you have several options of where to donate your money: Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, soup kitchens.
But have you considered the Miami Herald?
It’s not quite a charity case yet, but the paper of record in the Magic City is accepting handouts if you have any spare change.
Starting today, users of the Herald‘s Web edition can make donations to the paper on each story.
A link at the bottom of each story directs users to “Support ongoing news coverage on Miamiherald.com.”
Through the link, you can pay any amount you’d like with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted, sorry DiscoverCard holders).
The suggested donation is going toward a good cause.
“If you value The Miami Herald’s local news reporting and investigations, but prefer the convenience of the Internet, please consider a voluntary payment for the web news that matters to you,” the donation page reads.
With cutbacks, layoffs and weak revenues, the Herald is looking for money from its online content any way it can get it.
Having already cut 175 jobs earlier this year, the Herald announced it would be cutting 24 more just in time for the holidays.
Paying for online content is nothing new. The New York Times flirted with it, then backed off. And Rupert Murdoch promises to make the content of his online newspapers pay sites.
Just a few months ago, the Herald required online users to register to view stories online, and a straight fee for browsing the Herald‘s stories online may be around the corner.
“We’re trying something new, we’re putting it out there to see if it works, to see what the response is,” said Elissa Vanaver, Vice President/Assistant to the Publisher at the Herald. She said there are currently no plans to start charging for content.
Until then though, the Herald will keep doing its best PBS impression.
One question I have is will the newspaper track whcih stories brought in the most money? If so will personnel decisions be based on the monetary worth of a reporter or columnist?
The Herald is likely to find that a small percentage may donate to the paper, but most people still feel that the news should be free or mostly free.
It may be a hard to swallow but newspapers in general need to realize that most online readers don’t consider news web sites information vital or necessary enough to pay a fee to read the content.
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About the author
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
4 Comments for Miami Herald Asks Online Readers for Donations
It is test run for the N.Y. Times, the owner of that paper.
The ONLY newspaper I subscribe to is the Wall Street Journal, the Online Version comes free.
The only time I had collected newspaper pics of Obama from neighbors…Is what I used to train my Border Collie puppy, who would dump on Obama’s pic every time. Good Dog!!!
To Wesley in Dallas: WSJ online is NOT Free! I PAY for my online subscription every month: $9.95.
And, yes, readers SHOULD PAY to read content. If FOX News ran out of advertisers, we’d pay to whatch those shows, wouldn’t we?
Mel—
The online version that Wesley is talking about is free—I subscribe to it also—and I know there is the subscription form that you have—
We haven’t subscribed to home delivery in years and primarily because of the leftist tone of our local newspaper—-
Why would anyone pay for online news when it’s all free? With tens of thousands international newspapers available it does sound silly. But… just in case there are people willing to pay, I have some beach property in Wyoming which I will sell very cheap. Or if you prefer, I can sell you up to 10% of the Brooklyn Bridge rather inexpensively.