More evidence how the web is changing the news business.
In an article today from the BBC:
Free weekly newspapers have been around for years, but the launch of London’s third free daily on Monday is further evidence that the public seems less inclined to pay for their news fix.
Most 18- to 35-year-olds expect to get their news for free.
“This is a generation who grew up with the world wide web. They usually get their news delivered to them in their e-mail inboxes or at the click of a button.
“It is difficult to persuade young people that news should be something you pay for.”
I was at the event for Salon.com’s anniversary this year, and someone talked about this as being the major shift in news. NYC now has two free dailies, and the traditional papers are having a hard time recovering from (e.g.) lost classifieds revenues.
NYC’s amNewYork is very aggressive with getting its paper in the hands of commuters. They actually audition out of work actors to be their hawkers (um, newspaper passer-outers for those not familiar).