API recommends newspapers charge for online content

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on June 4, 2009 at 6:53 AM

After considering all options news Web sites have for monetizing online content, the American Press Institute announced in a white paper released last week that newspapers should embrace all of them, moving from "an advertising-centered to an audience-centered enterprise."

The Newspaper Economic Action Plan, released at a Chicago summit for newspaper executives, supports both subscriptions and micropayments, as well as a combination of the two, as advertising has proven to not be enough to support content creation, especially in the current global financial downturn, Poynter Online reported.

Last Thursday's meeting was not open to members of the press, however, according to an agenda of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press, it was called "Models to Lawfully Monetize Content."

According to Poynter, the report calls on newspaper executives to follow five "doctrines":

True value: Establish that news content online has value by charging for it. Begin "massive experimentation with several of the most promising options."
Fair use: Maintain the value of professionally produced and edited content by "aggressively enforcing copyright, fair use and the right to profit from original work."
Fair share: Negotiate a higher price for content produced by the news industry that is aggregated and redistributed by others.
Digital deliverance: "Invest in technologies, platforms and systems that provide content-based e-commerce, data-sharing and other revenue generating solutions."
Consumer centric: Refocus on consumers and users. Shift revenue strategies from those focused on advertisers.