• Nieman Journalism Lab, Wednesday, May 9, 2012 4:03 PM

Why is subscription news aggregator Ongo shutting down by the end of May after less than 18 months in business, despite the financial backing of major newspaper companies like The New York Times?

Adrienne LaFrance provides a thorough post-mortem, discussing issues like the service's "confusing pricing model" and "the fact that most of Ongo’s content was available for free on the web -- and the fact that many of its news orgs have chosen to focus on building their own paywalls."

LaFrance interviews Ongo CEO Dan Haarmann, who notes, "I think that it’s going to take a while for the industry to shift gears into the paid world. I think that in the interim they’re going to have to figure out how to balance a product that delivers revenue to help run their business, and one that satisfies a consumer’s need.”

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