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News & ArtsTuesday, January 26, 2010
Media Yeah, Firewalls Totally Work
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 4:17 PM
The new owners of Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, put the whole paper behind a firewall in October. The redesign and firewall launch, which cost $4 million, made it so customers could buy access to Newsday online for $5 a month. So how many people have subscribed in the past three months? The answer comes via the New York Observer.
That astoundingly low figure was revealed in a newsroom-wide meeting last week by publisher Terry Jimenez when a reporter asked how many people had signed up for the site. Mr. Jimenez didn't know the number off the top of his head, so he asked a deputy sitting near him. He replied 35.Michael Amon, a social services reporter, asked for clarification.
"I heard you say 35 people," he said, from Newsday's auditorium in Melville. "Is that number correct?"
Mr. Jimenez nodded.
This sound effect has never been more appropriate.
1
There's a reason why newspapers always did well when they stayed with the tried and true methods of scandal journalism, gossip columns about film stars, and corner and strip ads on the front pages.
That plus comics.
The more you stray from the model, the more you lose your shirt.
That plus comics.
The more you stray from the model, the more you lose your shirt.
2
That's awesome. It sounds like the Dolans would have drove it into the ground one way or another, anyhow.
6
Newspapers? the only good reason for getting them at all is for the Sunday comics and to use for lining things and starting fires in the fireplace... OH, wait. the sunday giant bunch of flyers, ads and coupons are good.
all my actual news comes from the Daily Show
all my actual news comes from the Daily Show
9
Well, not counting the opportunity cost of investing that $4M elsewhere, those 35 subscribers will deliver break-even in a whiplash-inducing 1,905 years. Is there a problem with that?
11
This has nothing remotely to do with the technical function that network firewalls actually perform, but whatevah...
12
I like you, Will in Seattle. At least you're not a jerk. I'll take you over Fnarf or Fifty-Two-Eighty any day.
13
Congrats, 5280! Now you're the one getting lumped in with Fnarf by anonymous jackoffs. I usually took that as a compliment...
17
Oh, and by the way, Newsday is owned by Rupert Murdoch. That's right, the same Rupert Murdoch who owns Fox, which is currently kicking the living shit out of everything else on television. Also the same Rupert Murdoch who's making untold gazillions of dollars off of Avatar.
$4 million? Don't make me laugh.
$4 million? Don't make me laugh.
18
Not sure if I'm the only one that followed the link, but the Observer list the price of access at $5 per week, not month.
21
You've heard it enough, but it's almost as bad as "Igon Values."
A firewall is a network security tool, that has nothing to do with a paywall.
Ouch, dude.
A firewall is a network security tool, that has nothing to do with a paywall.
Ouch, dude.
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