One-Stop Web Portal Thinks It Can Save Newspapers

A web portal planned by some top media execs may be the way forward for beleagured newspapers. Journalism Online would act as a “one-stop shop” for pay content, writes Nate Anderson for Ars Technica. Consumers could buy subscriptions to many newspapers at low prices, and with a sliding scale of cost and access—on the thinking that readers will be more inclined to pay once than maintain several subscriptions.

Steven Brill, the venture’s founder, refers those who say the subscription model is dead to the success of the Wall Street Journal (online) and the Economist (offline). With revenue streams other than advertising to rely on, Brill thinks newspapers will start to enjoy the chief benefit of the internet: vastly lower distribution costs. (More journalism stories.)