Egon was right. Print is dead.
The New York Times Paywall went live yesterday. Sad to see a giant of the print media come to such an end. Instead of embracing new technologies, they are trying to stifle them, and in doing so, will cause their own death. And I don’t care what the argument is, but charging for each separate rates for each digital edition (web, iPhone, iPad), and then saying those are all free if you get the dead-tree edition (which costs less, natch)… is the worst kind of insult to the people they are trying to reach: savvy, technically literate, affluent consumers.
The really sad part is that the world needs more in-depth investigative journalism, and that kind of reporting and research takes time and money. Bloggers, while important to the media landscape, can’t take their place, and the 24-hours Cable News Panic Cycle isn’t interested in stories that aren’t soundbites.