Newspapers trying new revenue models

The business of the newspaper business keeps evolving.

Today Newsday reported it will charge for online access, and The New York Times sent out e-mails inviting former subscribers to sign up for a one-year subscription on Kindle and receive the new, bigger DX Kindle for $499, a savings of $200.

Newsday on Long Island, N.Y., announced that nonsubscribers or people who do not have the island’s cable system — both owned by the same company — will have to pay $5 a week to continue to be able to access all of newsday.com’s content. Some content such as obituaries will remain free.

Newsday quoted a critic who said the paper would be shutting out younger readers.

But it also quoted longtime newspaper business guru John Morton as saying, "Despite the false premise that has been floating around for the last 19 years, that information on the Internet wants to be free, [it] is just not true. People have always been willing to pay for information they have felt was useful to them."

Like the Review-Journal, the Times is already available on Kindle devices and in a paid subscription online replica edition that looks just like the paper paper. It is simply offering a premium for the newest toy from Amazon.

The Times also has been hinting that it will soon start charging for its online content, which is now free.

Where do we go from here?