Three media executives — creator Steven Brill of Court TV and American Lawyer magazine; ex-publisher L. Gordon Crovitz of The Wall Street Journal; and Leo Hindery Jr. of private equity firm InterMedia Partners — are embarking on an enterprise whose objective is to equip publishers with the tools to charge e-commerce fees.
The proposed company, Journalism Online LLC, would enable magazine or newspaper websites to demand payment from non-subscribers, once they've reached a certain point on the page or in the content. The payments would be powered by Journalism Online and hosted on the publisher's site.
Readers that want a subscription to multiple sites, however, would be sent directly to Journalism Online. Unlimited subscriptions could cost around $15 a month.
Publishers would be free to set their own policies (such as deciding which content is free and which is not). They can also set proprietary rates and decide whether to go pay-per-click or opt for a daily, weekly or monthly subscription model.
"The most important thing is it's simple to use," Brill proclaimed in an interview with The New York Times. "Much of the barrier to charging online is the transaction friction, as opposed to the actual cost. With this system, you’d have a single password, give your credit card number just once."
The company doesn't currently boast any publishing clients, but a handful of large newspaper and magazine publishers have reportedly been in talks about how Journalism Online's system would work best for them. Its board also includes two prominent lawyers: David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, ex solicitor general of the US.
According to Brill, Journalism Online will also arrange licensing and royalty fees with search engines and news aggregators for use of content served by participating publications.
A survey by the Online News Association found online journalists are more optimistic about the future of their professions than news people tied to traditional media — but remain steadfast in their belief that the internet is eroding journalistic values. What's more, four in 10 respondents believe online news will find "a profitable and self-sustaining revenue model."
