Dead Tree Watch

Lets all give the New York Times Co. a round of applause for this great idea, charging readers monthly fees to access online content (and in the midst of an economic downturn no less.) That's sure to help the Times flagging readership numbers...

If you'll remember, the NYT famously tried this with their opinion columnists a few years back, and they were forced to pull the plug when no one bit. With print newspaper readership cratering, this is exactly the wrong tact for the Times, or any other newspaper, to be taking. What the future of the print media is is anyone's guess - will it be scaled down dailes? Transformed bi-weeklies? Or will print media be discontinued completely?

What does seem certain is that consumers will be looking more and more to web-based media for their news. How traditionally print mediums can adapt to this format, while competing with already established web-based news sources like Politico and Huffington Post, will determine the fate of the industry.