MMMM # 139 -- End (of free NY) Times... and Yemen PR (NOT).

     Overnight, as we slept, the long anticipated pay wall went up around The New York Times website.
     Readers of this blog know I have been a regular reader of the Times. I've linked to stories produced by The Times staff several tiems a week for years.
     Beginning today, we can read 20 articles a week for free. After that, there is a charge per article. Or you can pay a flat monthy fee for electronic access on multiple platforms...PC, tablets or smart (or maybe even just brighter-than-average) phones. $20.00.
     PC Magazine reports that readers of this and other blogs who click through to a Times story will not have that count against their 20 free stories a month. Of course that doesn't help me with my monthly limit!

     It can't be completely a coincidence that the last column by Bob Herbert appeared in yesterday's paper.

     And ditto for Frank Rich's departure two weeks ago.

    The first time The Times tried to require payment from readers, there was major revolt by the columnists, who were the main focus of the fees charged for N.Y. Times Select. And now, like then, there apparently was a major internal battle between proponents of charging and those who wanted to protect the biggest online news audience in the world...almost fifty million visitors a month.

     There is no doubt those numbers will plummet starting this week.

      I agree the Times and other providers of original online content deserve to be compensated for their work, but $240 a year is not an insignificant fee, especially during The Great Depression. Have they not been reading their own economic stories?

     I haven't decided about paying yet. There are many fine newspapers online not charging, and as columnists jump ship, the ability to visit the Times online becomes less valuable, not more.
     And there's this: when the content was free, I felt an obligation to watch the annimated ads for The Economist etc etc before I was allowed to view my story. Now I'll just click the "skip this ad" option immediately.
     Will that option remain with a pay wall?


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     Yemen, where snipers fired into a crowd of demonstrators last week, killing a reporter and others, is also at the front of the line of Middle-Eastern Governments who are abusing the media during the unrest.

     The country's official news agency put out a warning to journalists:

Yemen urges foreign media maximum accuracy while covering Yemen


[22/March/2011]
     SANA'A, March 22 (Saba) – Yemen on Tuesday urged foreign media to exercise maximum accuracy as to what they report and to be professional while covering the situation in Yemen.
     A source at the Information Ministry also stressed the importance of reporting the facts as they are and to avoid distorting them.
     The source told Saba:" the ministry will regrettably withdraw the license of any correspondent for foreign outlets found abusing his profession".
     Yemen is a democratic country, which is open to different opinions and committed to freedom of the press providing media never harms the national security and stability, the source said, warning media of incitement to violence and chaos or distorting the facts. 
                                

     It's bad enough to threaten to take away a journalists' license, but when snipers start firing into crowds of demonstrators...killing the reporters too...

    And late last week the find security forces in Libya made a fool of themselves by destroying  journalists cameras and roughing them up after they tried to report on a woman who charged she had been raped by the security force. The country's handlers also tried to convince the media the woman was drunk or insane.

    By Sunday morning, the Libyan government had reversed course, admitting the incident had been mishandled, and announced the arrest of five people.

[ALSO: The Montgomery Advertiser has launched a much-needed redesign of their web site. Looks good!]

(The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]