New York Times mulls $5/month online subscription fee

How much would you be willing to pay to read the New York Times online? That's the question the Gray Lady is asking in a new reader survey. Personally, I'm ready to pony up.

First, the basics: Bloomberg reports that the Times recently sent out a survey to its print subscribers, asking if they'd be willing to fork over $2.50 a month for "discounted" access to the NYT Web site. The access fee for non-print subscribers, the survey said, would be $5—and that would include "all [the] articles, blogs, and multimedia."

For now, of course, the entire Times Web site (the most-visited news site on the Web, Bloomberg notes) is free, although the paper flirted with for-pay access to its editorials and other content ("Times Select") a couple of years back. The Times also used to charge for its archived articles, but those are now all free, as well.

So, why is the NYT again considering charging its online readers? You guessed it: plunging revenue (down 27 percent the first quarter of the year, according to Bloomberg), right along with the rest of the newspaper industry, forcing the company to shed both jobs and assets at an alarming rate.

Now, I like "free" as much as anyone, but as a former print reporter myself, believe me: it takes money to run a newsroom and generate original reporting. I got paid twice a month (not a lot, but it paid the bills), there was an office, computers, phones, photographers, editors, and (most importantly) time for investigative reporting when the circumstances called for it. And that was just for a small, local newspaper, while the Times is pretty much expected to cover the world.

So yes—I'm ready and willing to cough up $5 a month for online access to the Times (which is actually a bit cheaper than the Wall Street Journal's $1.99/week online subscription fee), and I think other online papers should seriously consider follow the NYT's lead. It's a move that could save the journalism industry that all us bloggers rely on, and if you ask me, it's an industry worth saving.

What about you—would you pay a subscription for online news sites like the New York Times? And if so, how much?

Related:
New York Times Considers $5 Monthly Web-Access Fee [Bloomberg]