Raising the quality of its content and, at the same time, generating income that does not necessarily come from advertising or circulation, is today the decisive double bet of professional journalism.
Both lines must be matched because it is not easy or quick to put them together so that they are mutually beneficial to the primary objective of preserving a useful and reliable press.
The downpour of fake news that overflows the networks, even though there are technological “checkpoints” to prevent their free circulation, has automatically generated a demand for true, credible and verifiable content.
And as this is so, the main printed newspapers are now giving a more careful treatment to their main asset, which is quality, knowing that it is the input desired by the audiences and for which they are willing to pay.
Establishing paywalls, that is, the price of entry to that mass of useful, credible and reliable content, is not an overnight task.
Although there are different models, proven to be viable, the choice of the rate type is subject to the new culture of information “consumption”, to a good knowledge and adaptation of the preferences of users and future subscribers and, essentially, to the capacity of the medium to offer the level of quality and thematic specificity for which the reader is willing to pay.
- Translated from Spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 