WSJ says "Not so fast, my friends..."
Just when it looked like the Wall Street Journal would join the 21th century and drop its "pay-for-view" content on its Web site and move to a free model, Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer and senior vice-president of the company's consumer media group, said that talk is "jumping the gun."
Quoted in a recent E&P article, Rooney said, "Mr. Murdoch would like to have the largest, most robust site in business. Free is a way to look at that. But there is a lot of detail behind that. You have to work that out. You don't just flip the switch."
Well, actually, Yes, Mr. Rooney, you can flip the switch. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it boggles the mind why more companies are still in the archaic mode of asking people to pay for content. With the wide variety of news Web sites out there, why would I pay for content when I get for free elsewhere.
The New York Times recently understood the importance of free Web content as have other news sites. Maybe it's time for WSJ to get with the "Times."