WP paywall ‘doesn’t make sense’ at this time, says publisher

Politico
“We want to be around as the Washington Post for a long time and many generations to come,” says Katharine Weymouth, “and at the moment, we think that the best way to do that I to have a free website that is open to everybody and attract as many people as we can to spend as much time as they can with our journalism, and assume that that will bring them back for more.” (Executive editor Marcus Brauchli made a similar statement in August.) The Post wants to see how the other papers’ paywall/metered model experiments turn out before charging online readers. “We can always watch and learn and copy if it makes sense,” Weymouth tells Keach Hagey. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating about the Los Angeles Times putting up a paywall. A Times spokeswoman tells Hagey that the paper plans to follow the Baltimore Sun — another Tribune-owned paper — by “testing a variety of tactics with consumers and advertisers in coming months to better capitalize on our unique content.”