Coming to a newspaper website near you – a paywall. Shortly after the online newspaper business began, I said to myself, this is a really, really dumb business model. Newspapers across the country were stumbling all over themselves trying to get their content on the Internet the fastest – for free. This made little sense, of course, because newspapers pay to produce content. They have to pay reporters. They have to provide computers and newsrooms. Producing content isn’t free so content shouldn’t be free. But, somehow, the Internet was different. It really didn’t cost that much to put up a website, and we already had the content for our print edition. So why not put it online? And hey, maybe we can sell a few ads and make a little money while we’re at it. At the outset, newspaper people like me felt compelled to put our content online. We felt compelled because we believed, and probably rightly so, that the Internet was going to be the next big thing for newspapers and we just needed to be on board when the next big thing happened. Well, it’s been 15 years now and I’m still not really seeing that next big thing. The Times-Union was one of the first newspapers around to put content on the Internet. We started doing that in a very limited, rudimentary way in 1996. We would put a few news and sports stories online every day. There were no photos and no advertising. One day, a reader called in to talk to me about the website. She told me she really liked seeing the news online. Then she asked if we were planning on putting the obituaries online. I told her we were still evaluating how much online content would be posted. Then she said something that has remained etched on my brain ever since. She said, “Well, if you put the obituaries on the Internet, I can quit taking the newspaper.” It was quite jarring at the time. It was years before we started putting obituaries on the Internet. An when we did, we charged for them. I have taken literally dozens of calls from online readers castigating me and this newspaper for charging for obituaries online. I always tell them that content has value. And I firmly believe that. Frankly, it’s inarguable. If newspaper content had no value, newspapers would have ceased to exist a long time ago. It doesn’t really matter if the content is in print or online. It still has value. So about a year ago, we decided to ramp up our online content. That process is nearly complete. Those who routinely visit the Times-Union website may have noticed. These days, we post nearly every bit of local content we produce each day. We also post syndicated and local columnists. It takes considerable time and effort. Click around on our website and I think you will agree there is a ton of content available, including web-only content which can be accessed at the bottom of the homepage under the “Extras” and “Life” links. Check it out. In addition, we have totally redesigned and upgraded our e-Edition. Beginning today, it is temporarily available no charge for viewing by anyone who cares to take a look. Up until now, it has been available only to subscribers. But for a limited time, anyone can take a look. Go to our website, timesuniononline.com and click on the red e-Edition quick link at the top of the homepage. You will be transported to the e-Edition, which is what is known in online newspapering as a “flipbook.” Each page of the newspaper each day is presented as a portable document format file. It is the actual newspaper pages in electronic form. The pages can be searched, downloaded and zoomed. To the left of the pages you will see a side panel, which contains tabs for a table of contents and a search. Clicking the arrow next to the side panel slides it out of the way. The scroll bar on the right edge of the side panel allows you to scroll through thumbnails of all the pages in that day’s edition. Above the side panel is dropdown menu labeled “Section.” Click on that and the pages are indexed and you can jump quickly to any page you want. At the left in the black navigation bar above the e-edition you will notice an “enotify” box. There you can sign up for an email notification each day when the pages are ready to be viewed. Next in the nav bar are the fit page and fit width buttons, previous page/next page buttons, a printer button, a share button, a button to toggle between normal and full-screen mode and an archives button. Clicking on the Times-Union logo in the upper left takes you to the homepage of our website. We believe our e-Edition is one of the most reader-friendly and functional available. In the near future, all Times-Union online content will be placed behind a paywall. That means readers will be able to look at our homepage, but when you click anywhere on that page you will be directed to a page asking you to subscribe.Subscription options will be: One week – $2 Three months – $15 One year – $50 As always, subscribers to our print edition will be able to access all our online content at no charge. We have raised the level of our online content to the point where we feel we can no longer give it away. Enjoy it free for a little while longer. After that, we hope you will consider becoming a subscriber.
