Online Journalism Symposium

Steve Outing warns journalists of charging for online content April 17, 2009

Steve Outing, columnist for Editor & Publisher, told a packed room of media professionals and students Friday that the news industry needs to think outside the box.

Outing kicked off the first panel at the 10th International Symposium on Online Journalism with a presentation called “Diverse Business Models in Online Journalism: Are we trying hard enough?” His answer was a resounding no.

“Personally, I’m a little bit concerned about what’s been happening,” he said.

Many news organizations have been toying with the idea of charging for content, but Outing warned that paid content won’t work except for niche publications like the Wall Street Journal.

He mentioned the new company Journalism online, which will set up paid content models for news providers.

“The idea is setting up a technology system to make it easy for news publishers to charge for their content,” he said. “If you look back in history, there are many examples of trying to charge for online content — It’s tough.”

He said news organizations need to become “digital-centric.” Elaborating, he said digital content needs to be at the center of the organization, even though that’s not the biggest revenue yet.

“You have to go where the puck is going, not where the puck is,” Outing said, quoting Wayne Gretzki.

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