RTD considers charging for access

Richmond Times-Dispatch publisher Tom Silvestri makes an argument for erecting a paywall on at least some of the newspaper’s content:

Yes, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is charging for content on our main website, TimesDispatch.com. But rather than slap a tollbooth on all content highways, The Times-Dispatch is taking a different route, for now.

We’re going to selectively charge for unusual content or special packages prepared by our journalists, editors, specialty writers or producers. We may eventually offer a subscription, or paywall, for all of TimesDispatch.com, but currently we’ll set fees only for premium packages.

Many, many newspapers have tried the paywall route. Some, like the Wall Street Journal, have done so from the beginning of their online operations and seen handsome returns. Others have fared less successfully, such as the New York Times dabbling in charging for its opinion section.

What’s different about those papers and the RTD, though, is that they have the heft to provide content people are, broadly speaking, willing to pay for. Search the bylines in the RTD and you will find numerous stories that originally ran, and often at greater length, in the Times or other papers. Putting what is in many ways a clipping service behind a paywall makes no sense.

Like other diminishing local papers (I’m told the RTD’s circulation has fallen by more than 30 percent in recent years), it has to do something to turn its online presence into cash. Media General is losing money. It’s employees, including those in the RTD newsroom, are being forced to take 15 unpaid furlough days between now and the end of the year. But the brass spins hopes of a brighter future:

“Next year is not far off, and it’s one that is expected to be strong for Media General, with political advertising, the Summer Olympics and continued success with new revenue initiatives. I am grateful for your diligence as we bridge ourselves to better times.”

The “new revenue initiatives” include paywalls. But at the RTD, those new initiatives aren’t exactly raking in the dough, as Silvestri notes about one of the paper’s forays, charging for access to the 1861 version of the paper for those interested in coverage of the run-up to the Civil War:

A month’s pass costs $1.99. An annual pass is $19.99. So far, the early adopters have totaled fewer than 100, but we expect this to grow as the significant events of the four-year war pop up on the sesquicentennial parade.

I don’t think that’s going to keep the doors open.

There are also other daggers aimed at the dying heart of the newspaper, namely, its classified advertising section. As noted at Why the Richmond Times-Dispatch is Dying:

The state recently asked its employees to come up with ideas on how to save money. The winning entry was to stop advertising state job openings in newspapers.

Somehow, and in some form, though, the RTD and other fading regional papers will find their level and muddle through. In the process, they will create opportunities for smaller, more nimble competitors to fill the news void, particularly on local issues and increasingly in areas like General Assembly and election coverage.

And perhaps even opinion, too…particularly considering that its flagship scribes are already cribbing from online writers to provide their story ideas and research (without credit).

(Cross-posted at Score Radio Network)

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About the author

Norman Leahy

Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Examiner contributor.