A product's price reflects its value

Reader comment on: Answering Lee Bollinger

Submitted by Fred Van Bennekom (United States), Jul 15, 2010 09:02

I read Bollinger's article in the WSJ and easily saw it for what it was: The start of the argument for taxpayer funding for (liberal) news outlets. The problem *is* one of the marketplace. Those who run newspapers are very bad at strategic marketing, a key element of which is pricing. Caught up in the euphoria of the internet, newspapers gave away their content. (Information should be free...) If you give something away, then the message to the market is that it's not worth anything. Newspapers also got caught up in the marketing idea that they could monetize their content solely through online ads, which they don't do with their printed copy. Online ads are a siren song. Eventually, someone has to *buy* something. Worse yet, the free online copy cannibalizes the printed version's sales.

The problem is that there are many outlets for news stories, and if one puts stories up for free, how can others charge. If AP, Reuters and the like would only allow story thumbnails to appear on free sites, then the newspapers could more readily create online subscription services whose price reflects the marketplace's perception of the value of their content, much like the WSJ does.

Smart marketers price their products to reflect the value the customer receives. News companies aren't smart marketers. Stop crying and asking for a bailout and start being smart businesspeople.


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Other reader comments on this item

Title By Date
Bollinger is on the wrong side of every issue [28 words]JimJul 19, 2010 13:34
⇒ A product's price reflects its value [230 words]Fred Van BennekomJul 15, 2010 09:02
What Century is Lee Bollinger Living In?
[w/response] [850 words]
Brett ClayJul 14, 2010 19:18
I thought you already addressed the Bollinger column [48 words]DavidJul 14, 2010 18:20

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