Times Select: 2005-2007

By midnight tonight, Times Select is no more.

Many scratched their heads when the New York Times decided to put up the subscription firewall two years ago, considering that newspaper circulation and subscription figures have been dismal for years.

It made less sense in the era of internet information when political analysis of equal or greater quality was readily available online; would people really shell out $49.95 a year to read paid content that has less influence on public discourse by virtue of its exclusivity? Besides, internet savvy readers can always find web sites which posted bootleg copies of the op eds, a practice the NYT initially attempted but eventually failed to stop.

With the success of web sites that relied mainly on advertising revenue, firewalls like Times Select were doomed. Even the Wall Street Journal is now thinking of giving theirs up, which hopefully signals the end of subscription firewalls once and for all.

Krugman, Rich and Herbert -- and occasionally, Dowd -- to our hearts' content, finally. David Brooks and Tom Friedman, not so much.

More commentary from Scott Rosenberg, Jimmy Guterman and Jeff Jarvis.



+Save/Share | |