MediaBistro Poll: Will Paywalls Save (Or Sink) Newspapers?

Earlier today WebNewser wrote about a columnist who quit his Newsday gig because the Long Island newspaper is now charging non-subscribers $5 a week for full access to content on Newsday.com.

But Newsday may just be the first large daily paper to take the paywall plunge. The New York Times‘ public editor reports that executive editor Bill Keller has said the paper will decide “within weeks” whether to erect a paywall. And News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has gone on record in recent weeks as saying many of the newspapers his company owns will begin charging for content next year.

The issue has kicked off a heated debate in the journalism industry. Some believe newspapers won’t be able to survive unless they start charging online readers, while others predict it will be the beginning of the end as readers flee to free sources of news — with advertisers following suit.

Mediabistro is going to try to “crowdsource” the answer. The principle of the “wisdom of crowds” says a large group of people can correctly predict the answer to a question like this. So tell us what you think. And then get your colleagues and friends to answer as well. The more people who participate, the more likely we’ll get the right answer.

Do You Think Paywalls Will Save Newspapers?(trends)

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