E-Media Tidbits

I've been mostly off-line for the past week, but as I catch up, I'm finding that my mailbox continues to fill with letters from people angry about NYTimes.com's decision to include its most popular op-ed columnists in a paid premium service called TimesSelect. (I wrote an Editor & Publisher Online column about TimesSelect earlier this month.)

Reaction I've received has been mostly negative, much of it seething with anger. Patricia Sierra wrote to say that she's removed NYTimes.com from her Web browser's bookmarks. "I hope their folly ends in utter failure," she wrote. ... Said Pat Cavallaro, "Yes, I can afford to subscribe to TimeSelect, but I will not. I have canceled my delivery of the paper, as well" in protest.

Those were typical of the majority of letters I received. (My admittedly anecdotal sample came from a mix of journalists and people in other fields.) A few correspondents said they understood why the Times took this approach, but were disappointed; a few said they begrudgingly paid for a TimesSelect subscription. (I suggested in my E&P column that there might be enough begrudging subscribers to make the program a financial success.)

What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The Times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders. Thomas Friedman is an important voice in the Middle East, for instance, where he was widely read (according to editorial page editor Gail Collins) until going behind the TimesSelect pay wall.

Something the Times may have damaged here is its global impact. While the advent of the Web presented challenges to the Times (and every other newspaper company), it also gave it the gift of expansive worldwide reach and new levels of influence. I do wonder if it's shot itself in the foot not with TimesSelect, which is a solid business model, but with including its popular op-ed columnists in that program.