Pixels are cheap! As the poster above suggested, the subscription price can include access to expanded coverage and additional information on every news story. This includes letting go of the shovelware model. "We did the work , here is all you get."
By providing links to the sources that are available that go into a story, sites will be able to achieve the goal of having a more literate audience and build up credibility in terms of being able to have the stories examined from more than the perspective of the writer.
Having a talk back section on every story, can only add value in terms of sampling attitudes, and creating an ownership synergy that cannot be duplicated at any price.
Reporters and Editors will have clear signposts on what is important to their readership, and hopefully create a positive feedback loop which can only enhance the quality of the publication and ownership by the subscribers.
Once you have done this, the value of the property becomes such that advertisers will come to you rather than being held hostage by them.
A reader need all access possibilities to the content: The paper version when he / she is sitting comfortable at home or in the bathroom, the web at work or surfing at home, SMS for breaking news or sport results, WAP / I-mode when in the bus or waiting in a queue, e-mail version to the handheld etc. If the reader should pay varies fees for all the mentioned services, it could get too much and to complex to handle compared to other services.
A subscription should therefore include all the above-mentioned features, or have a fair price for a total package. The paper version will then draw readers to the web version, the wireless versions will constantly remind the user to go to the web- / paper version for in-depth details. The result is a bigger audience and therefore more ad income. One way to start is to give all subscribers of the paper version a username and password to the web version.
