Italian official proposes a reward to boost online news reading

Posted by Clara Martínez Turco on July 8, 2010 at 9:15 AM

To increase the low newspaper readership in Italy, President of the Communication Regulatory Agency (Agcom) Corrado Calabrò proposed on Tuesday "a governmental bonus for students who subscribe to a newspaper website," the news agency Apcom reported.

As the iPad and other e-reader gadgets become popular, the Italian official sees an opportunity to reconcile young people with newspaper and book reading. "There could be a new season for reading in a new format."

The proposal would also tackle the low usage of broadband and should increase the number of families that use Internet, as the country is below the European Union average in both aspects, Il Sole 24 Ore quoted.

In 2009, circulation of Italian dailies decreased 7.7 percent while advertisement in the press - which still remains the principal source of revenue - declined by 21.5 percent from €2.4 million €1.9 million, according to Dow Jones.