Miami Herald asking readers for donations

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on December 16, 2009 at 3:35 PM

The Miami Herald yesterday began trying a new way to make money from online content: by asking nicely. The McClatchy-owned Florida newspaper now accepts voluntary payments on its Web site at the end of each story, where readers are presented with an option to make a payment to support the coverage.

After clicking on the option, readers are directed to a page where they can pay any amount they like, via credit card.

But will readers pay?

The majority of reader comments under The Herald's announcement voice support for the move, stating "I think most people realize the importance of having a daily local paper and would pay something to support it," and "We all love it when a Miami Herald investigation exposes corrupt politicians and the like. That costs money."

However, readers also said that even though they support the idea, they doubt people will willingly offer up cash.

Elissa Vanaver, a vice president at The Herald, yesterday told The Associated Press that some readers have already donated. She also said there is no timeline for this plan.

"...We don't have a phase two or three or four yet. We want to see what trying this tells us about the market," she said.

Other newspapers are mulling the voluntary pay option, but The Herald is the first to try it out, Geneva Overholser, director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, told the AP.

"I can't imagine this is going to be a gold mine ... But I certainly don't blame them for trying," she said.

The paper's unique monthly visitors are at five million, but in the past year weekday print circulation has dropped by almost 25 percent, to 163,000. Sunday circulation has gone down by about 14 percent, to 238,000, according to MediaGuardian. Due to circulation and advertising declines, The Herald has cut hundreds of employees in the past few years.