And Tim has it right above, we’re in the information business and getting the information out is the job.

If all these papers had vigorous web presences, this wouldn’t be an issue because they would be the ‘net publisher of first record.

did big media, in a futile attempt to thwart a business model being born on the net, decide on charging so little for ad space so as to keep any upstarts from making a go of it?

now that has failed. so this idea comes as no great surprise.

hey, it’ll be just like today’s newspaper too… all yesterday’s news.

Newspaper are just like any other enterprise. They have to figure out ways to make money. If they can’t, they will die. Then the wire services will lose valuable sources of news and information.

And that move will move right up the line until the AP news report begins to lose value and consumers will see that real quick.

UPI began to lose value in the 1990s when it cut bureaus to stem the money loss. The news report suffered and it is but a shadow of itself today. Unipressers used to “write bright tonight.” They would have never had a chance if they wrote and held the story for 24 hours for one segment of their business.

When news starts eliminating one segment or another, it will lose value.

Firstly, he’s advocating online only, so it’s not about depriving poor people of any news.

Secondly, he’s advocating a temporary embargo.

The purpose of this is to remind people (both consumers and advertisers) of the value of the information they’re consuming.

This applies just as much to tv stations as it does to newspapers. You’re both doomed. I know exactly how little TV stations make on the web as well.

I’m going to file this one under “check back later”, as I’m convinced some TV consultant will be proposing this exact thing within a year as your broadcast revenues plummit even more rapidly then projected.

And of course newspapers can’t command the revenue they used to. There’s more competition. They’re not the only game in town anymore. Sorry. They *can* be successful journalistic endeavors. It’s just that they’re carrying so much overhead right now that they can’t meet up with their own expenses.

That’s hardly the fault of the web.

I wonder why he didn’t advise the same strategy for local TV stations along with newspapers. (It’s a bad idea for either…)

It’s clearly has nothing to do with “paper” Tim, it has to do wtih not being able to command ad revenue online that is comparable to traditional media. This is true with TV stations as well.

So, do you think your news content has the value based on your Broadcast advertising rates? Or, based on your online advertising rates?

People have been condtioned, by years of getting this stuff free, to believe it has little no no value.

One upshot of this theoretical exercise is to attempt to establish a value for the content, both literally, in terms of advertising rates, and conceptually, in terms of how people value the content that they have taken for granted for so long.

And, if your so altruistic as to believe that value is anti-journalism, then I’m waiting for your commercial-free local news broadcasts and ad-free websites.

If you do news we can believe, news we can trust is factual, news that matters to us, and news on time, you can get us to view the web site and you can move your ad sales over there.

Embargo the news? How utterly anti-journalism.