After adding registration to its Web sites last year, the Tribune Co. is moving toward a subscription model, Tribune Interactive president David Hiller tells the American Journalism Review. “I think that the totally free, complete open-access Web site model is pretty flawed, and we’re going to be working on a better mousetrap,” Hiller says. “Elements of subscription will definitely be a part of it.”
For most sites, though, registration is the favored approach — and it’s continuing to catch on. Scripps Howard’s 20+ newspapers and Morris Communications 26 newspapers will be adding registration to their Web sites as a way to reap more money from advertising. “Online should not be free,” says Bob Benz, Scripps’ general manager of interactive media. “You shouldn’t be able to just come in and take that information. You may not have to pay money for it, but you might need to hand over information and see some advertising.”
