• paidContent.org, Wednesday, October 29, 2008 10:45 AM

Robert Thomson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is still a proponent of premium business news on the Web. He believes people misunderstand what is free, or "commoditized" and what isn't on the newspaper's site. When it comes to social networks, "more of our content will be free and you'll be able to share it, but at the premium end, that's still a subscription model."

What exactly is premium content? Not opinion editorials, he says. "I'm sure there's brilliant commentators, but it's become commoditized. The random comment you get today is a commodity."

However, high-end business news is still worth paying for. With regional and local papers focusing on personal finance, "where do people go for high-end international finance news? We've seen 2% to 3% growth in print subscriptions based on the strong demand" for that news, Thomson says.

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