RI Media Experts Weigh In On Pro-Jo Pay Wall
Jeff Derderian, GoLocalProv Media Critic
RI Media Experts Weigh In On Pro-Jo Pay Wall
The Providence Journal is trying to get your attention.
They are running billboards and TV ads. A lot of them.
Spending money to tell you how good they are. But what they are not telling you is even more surprising. This full throttle campaign is an attempt to get more people to subscribe to the Pro-Jo – to come back from wherever they have gone. All this while work behind the scenes continues to get a revamped projo.com up and running. Word has it the name of the actual URL may change from projo.com to providencejournal.com. If this is done, the first question is why? The paper has spent considerable time, effort and money to brand that name so why change it?
The New Look
As part of the new and improved projo.com or whatever the new name may be, readers will see a new look which is desperately needed. The current look is tired and not representative of what the digital content world has to offer. It would make sense to make the pages easier to read and navigate similar to the Huffington Post which by all accounts has a nice looking site.
Along with a new look – as we have reported here numerous times, count on a pay wall. For those in digital media who don’t like that term (as I was chastised by a big city newspaper writer) they prefer to call it “metered access”. No matter the title it means to read all sections of The Providence Journal, people will have to pay a pre-determined amount. The information circling so far says that for things like editorials, and columnists like Bill Reynolds and Bob Kerr you will have to pay money to read what they have to say.
Many media observers predict not so great results in asking people in Rhode Island to pay for content they have been getting day after day for free.
What Do The Experts Say?
To help gain some perspective on this monumental change for the Pro-Jo we reached out to area communications experts at RI College to get their take on some questions. We heard from three RIC professors and what they have to say is thought provoking for sure.
What is your general reaction to The Providence Journal deciding to go to a pay-wall or a modified version of that---where they have readers pay for content like editorials, columnists etc?
My first thought is one of alarm. It may mean that citizens will become even less involved in the democratic process. We live in a city and a state with only one major newspaper. The Providence Journal has been our collective, primary source for information about the government and potential candidates. Most people would say they trust the Pro-Jo. Putting a pay wall between the voter and public information seems (to me) to be elitist. One more instance of the haves and have-nots. If they do institute a pay wall, what percentage of the population will gain the benefit of the news? Those who can afford the news will get the news. In my opinion a pay wall will damage the democratic process in this state. Now, more than ever, Rhode Island needs an informed citizenry.
-Bonnie Mac Donald, Professor of Communications and Film Studies
Do you think this was inevitable given how the Pro Jo and other paper's are struggling so badly?
Yes. Newspapers and other media sources have been providing their materials for free and hoping to make their money off of ads. Given the economic situation, those profits either have slowed down and or just haven't grown sufficiently. With the evolving technological changes that are occurring, the old formula just doesn't work. It's simple economics, they need to find some way to make money or go out of business.
-Bonnie Mac Donald, Professor of Communications and Film Studies
RI is very parochial in its thinking---will there be a challenge to get people to pay for something they have received for so long for free?
It isn't that Rhode Islanders are parochial, it's that most of us have been getting something for free and wonder why we should have to pay for it now. With alternative news sources like GoLocalProv a web surfer can get news and analysis for the cost of having an internet connection. Now the reader will have to decide whether or not to pay to read a Channing Gray or Jim Donaldson. It will be hard for the Pro Jo to show an added benefit justifying the increased expense. It takes more than a catchy advertising campaign to change consumer behavior.
- Kay Israel, Professor of Political Communication
Do you have a perspective on where newspapers (not just ProJo ) will be in say 5 to 10 years...there are those who say some of the biggest papers we know will have problems surviving?
The future of large local newspapers is not one of survival but one of adaptation. We must remember that despite a shrinking circulation, newspapers offer a local perspective that is hard for television and radio news to provide. Papers such as the Providence Journal will continue to be the first place people go for in-depth local news. Whether it is printed on paper or delivered through a digital device shouldn’t matter because the product being sold is the message not the medium.
-Anthony Galvez, Professor of Communication