“It gives them better journalism”

With that, Globe and Mail’s editor-in-chief John Stackhouse explains why adding a paywall to globeandmail.com will be better for all of us Canadians. With this move on October 22, The Globe becomes the first of Canada’s national newspapers to force a paywall on it’s readers. All indications are that few people consider this a positive move (of 99 comments on one paywall-related article, I found one positive and many deleted). A bold move?

One has to wonder if The Globe is completely out of touch with readers as Journalism rapidly changes from print to something different. Why would they institute a paywall when much of the news related content can simply be obtained for free, legally, elsewhere? The clear question here is not related to current subscribers of the print editions (who will get paywall access as part of being a subscriber) – but will this new cost of $20 per month bring new readers to globandmaiil.com over other sources of news? I say, no.

Given that seemingly basic tech knowledge would be able to defeat this paywall, one has to wonder if there is anyone willing to give money to a newspaper that likely needs re-invention, not convention.