• by John Gaffney , February 24, 2003

Freedumb: The San Francisco Examiner going from paid to a free business model is not a good thing. I read about a lot of people who are claiming that free is the wave of the future when it comes to urban newspapers. That means the future is bleak. Free can never be a good business model. At least not a good offline business model. Yes, some advertisers have come around to accepting the free circulation model. It will pump up the readership numbers. It will make distribution a whole lot easier. But the reason you charge even a nominal fee for newsstand sales or subscriptions is because the consumer makes a commitment to the product. They fork over money, and the advertiser sees a tighter connection to the content consumers have to the product. The newspaper business cannot forget that. It’s easy to be free. It’s tougher to put out a product worth paying for, but in the long run, it’s the good fight.

Freesome: Which brings us to Salon, which is going down ugly. I liked Salon a lot. Loved it when it was free. I don’t think Salon’s problems started when it started charging for content. I think Salon picked a very bad time to start charging for content. Back in September 2001, I was not ready to fork over money for yet another take on terrorism. Timing is everything, it is said. Now Salon’s time may be up.

Parting Shot: I was reprimanded by dozens of readers yesterday for not pointing out that the Brice Springsteen led tribute to The Clash was among the great moments in music on TV, and certainly a reason to keep advertising on shows like the Grammys.