Wednesday, May 20, 2009

How Much Longer before we Pay for Online News??

I am, and have been for many years, a big fan of online news. In the not too distant future we will look back over these past 15 years or so with great fondness, when it comes to free online news, that is.

Boy, it's been an orgy so far!!! Newspapers, magazines, blogs, videos and more!! And all for free!! It's too good to be true, and the question is, how much longer will it last. The media/news industry is bleeding red--lots of it.

The cause of this red ink. DEBT and more DEBT!! Consolidation and control (by the very few) has been the mantra. These media giants did not prepare well for the "Great Recession". There are some really biggggg names in trouble as listed in this online Time Magazine article.

The Wall Street Journal has its own list.

In Canada, many news organizations, including CanWest Global, the owners of the Windsor Star, are bleeding profusely. It's obvious that CanWest will not survive in its current form.

On May 15 2009 CanWest was trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at around 0.35 cents.

A very lengthy but worthwhile article on the whole mess over at CanWest. If you have the time the read is worth it.

Anyway, the bottom line regarding all of the above, in my opinion anyway, free access to online news publications won't last long. This is bad news for regular folks. News is already too tightly controlled through "corporate and family oligarchs". Charging for online news will only increase their undeserved and poorly regulated power.