With the advent of the digital age, mere Internet access puts the virtual world at your fingertips. Much of this content is free, and many people have grown accustomed to attaining information free of charge, aside from paying for Internet access itself. Yet the decision by The New York Times to begin its digital subscription program on March 28 marks a considerable departure from the concept of free news. Though the Times was not the first news service to charge for content — the largest U.S. newspaper by circulation, The Wall Street Journal, has done so for years — the news conglomerate's implementation of a paywall represents a major step in what is likely to be a major trend.
"I can pretty much guarantee, now that The New York Times has [started online subscriptions], every major newspaper will follow their lead," Communications and Media Studies (CMS) Program Director Julie Dobrow said.
While users may be frustrated that not all online news sites will be free, the drive to charge for content is not necessarily the result of a publication's money-grubbing mentality. Neil Miller, an English lecturer who teaches journalism, said that revenue is needed to sustain high-quality reporting.
"I think because of the Internet we have gotten spoiled in that we can just look up everything for free," Miller said. "But this stuff is expensive. You have to pay reporters. You need infrastructure."
Newspapers ran into trouble when Internet access became a household norm. According to a study by the Nielsen Company in 2009, more than 80 percent of Americans have computers at home, and 92 percent of them have access to the Internet. Content that subscribers once paid to have delivered to their homes is largely available for free online, reducing the need for readers to purchase print subscriptions and vendors to advertise in print editions.
Miller described the climate that the economy and the digital age created for newspapers as "a perfect storm." Dobrow agreed.
"It's pretty clear what made [digital subscriptions] necessary," Dobrow said. "Look how your generation reads the newspaper. Very, very few undergraduates read a hard copy of the paper."
As technology evolves, the funding problem for news organizations will not disappear, Miller explained; regardless of the medium, money needs to come from somewhere.
Nan Levinson, also an English lecturer, acknowledged that payment is necessary but is unsure whether online subscriptions are the most efficient way to secure that payment.
"Newspapers have to come up with a way to fund this process, regardless of how it is delivered," Levinson said. "I don't know if a paywall is the way to do this. I'm waiting to see what happens."
Questions have also been raised about whether the increase of online reading has changed the way in which people consume the information they read. While it is difficult to pinpoint the effect of augmented online content, some think that differences in the way people are presented with and read news online versus in print could change the amount of news people actually digest.
"I think what we are going to get more and more of is headlines and less content," Levinson said. "And that's something I'm very concerned about."
Still, online readers can navigate through a far larger body of material quicker than they can in print. Miller hypothesized that online subscriptions may make those who pay feel obliged to read more news.
"I think people tend to skim through things online," Miller said. "Putting a value on it may make people read it more closely or carefully."
Freshman Conway Yao, a regular news consumer, is concerned about those who will not be willing to pay for news in the event that most online publications begin to charge. In the line of thought that the media is the fourth branch of government, and a right granted to citizens in the U.S. Constitution, he felt quality basic news should always be available for free. Yao worried that those who are not very concerned with keeping themselves informed will be the least likely to pay for digital subscriptions, which, in turn, will leave them even less informed.
"The readers who would most likely not pay for a subscription are the least informed in society, which means they are turning to less reputable sources," he said.
Thanks to the sizeable number of New York Times newspapers Tufts orders and receives daily, students and faculty are eligible to receive a 50 percent discount on the Times' new digital subscription fees. This translates to $1.88 per week, or $7.50 per month for unlimited online access via computer or smartphone. Those who choose not to pay will be subject to the Times' new policy, which includes free access to 20 articles per month online, including special features.
Policy aside, though, Dobrow stressed that all news publications are exhibiting a definite growth in their reliance on digital platforms to disseminate news. She stressed that journalists can no longer simply be good writers and reporters; they must also work with blogs, videos and podcasts, among other media forms.
"Everybody has to go online," Dobrow said. "It's completely changed [journalism] forever."
