In front of the pack
Le Temps, the NZZ of French-speaking Switzerland, is lowering the floodgates. The publisher is now also publishing all content from the printed edition on the web. And even more content than in the printed edition is to be offered on the Internet. Does so-called quality journalism really have to be available to the masses for free?
Le Temps, the NZZ of French-speaking Switzerland, is lowering the floodgates. The publisher is now also publishing all content from the printed edition on the web. And even more content than in the printed edition is to be offered on the Internet. Does so-called quality journalism really have to be available to the masses for free? Quite apart from how quality should be defined in this case: prominent figures in the business say that giving content away for free was the biggest mistake ever. But the Internet is a low-threshold communication tool and would not be where it is today if people had to pay for every piece of content.
But why should material that has been researched and polished for days and often weeks simply be given away for free? (And continue to cultivate the free mentality?) One reason is the race of publishers on the Internet, the hunt for advertising-relevant clicks and page impressions. But quality journalism in particular is in a bad position here. The coveted page impressions are not generated by interesting articles, but by endless and superfluous picture galleries or even games and crossword puzzles.
That cannot be Le Temps' idea. So the question arises as to whether there is a "market" for quality journalism online. However, there is currently practically no functioning business model for this on the Internet and the elaborately produced content cannot be financed by meagre online revenues, but only by advertisements in the paper. It remains to be seen whether the Internet will slow down sales of the printed edition or not. At any rate, those responsible are optimistic so far.
From René Worni
But why should material that has been researched and polished for days and often weeks simply be given away for free? (And continue to cultivate the free mentality?) One reason is the race of publishers on the Internet, the hunt for advertising-relevant clicks and page impressions. But quality journalism in particular is in a bad position here. The coveted page impressions are not generated by interesting articles, but by endless and superfluous picture galleries or even games and crossword puzzles.
That cannot be Le Temps' idea. So the question arises as to whether there is a "market" for quality journalism online. However, there is currently practically no functioning business model for this on the Internet and the elaborately produced content cannot be financed by meagre online revenues, but only by advertisements in the paper. It remains to be seen whether the Internet will slow down sales of the printed edition or not. At any rate, those responsible are optimistic so far.
From René Worni
