NYT set for decision on paywalls

Will they or won't they?

Yes it seems that the New York Times is seriously considering the paywall issue.

In his column the public editor,the paper's Clark Hoyt writes that

Though The Times retains the largest newsroom of any American paper — 1,250 reporters, photographers, editors, columnists, graphic artists, Web producers, videographers and more — it is about to cut 100 people through voluntary buyouts and, if needed, layoffs that would happen in the weeks before Christmas. Editors say they are determined to minimize the impact on readers, but some of those readers are worried

and tells that Scott Heekin-Canedy, the newspaper’s president and general manager, said in June that a decision about charging online readers would be made by late summer. But he said last week that executives were still studying the issue.

Its editor Bill Kelner said that

“It’s a much tougher, more complicated decision than it seems to all the armchair experts. There is no clear consensus on the right way to go.” At stake are millions of dollars from online advertisers who want the largest possible number of readers. Putting up any kind of pay wall has the potential to drive away readers and some of those dollars.

So we wait with baited breath