How the cost of connectivity might defeat paywall economics

There is a great deal of talk about paywalls but what about another side of the equation,the cost of connectivity?

In a really good article from David Johnson over at Poynter,the author argues that

With each new device, and each new connection to the grid, the consumers are coming to the marketplace with less money in their pocket, because the cost of simply being on the grid has skyrocketed in the past 10 years.

So the thesis goes once the consumer gets to the net,are they really going to be willing to pay for content?

And here is the crux of the agrument

They paid for delivery of the newspaper or a magazine. They paid for the convenience and freedom of buying a single copy at the newsstand. They paid for better television reception when cable emerged. They paid for faster Internet performance when broadband was introduced. They paid for more functionality with smart phones. But they only pay for content when it is exclusive and of a certain quality.

Ethical guidelines for journos using social media tools

Over at Poynter Online they have been discusiing ethics with regard to journalists using social media tools. (via Journalism.co.uk)

Using the as a case study they came up with the following guidelines

1.Making connections is good. And journalists should ensure they are using a full array of tools for gathering information, including face-to-face interviews and shoe-leather reporting.

2.Journalists must compensate for the skew of online reporting. You are likely to find younger, whiter, more affluent sources online. Journalists should constantly strive for diverse representations in their stories.

3.Information gathered online should be independently confirmed offline. Interview sources in person or over the phone whenever possible. Verify claims and statements.
Ensure informed consent. It's easy for sources to misunderstand your intentions. It is your responsibility to tell them who you are, what you are doing and where your work will run.

4.Take special consideration with children and other vulnerable people. When contacting children, make sure they connect you with a responsible adult.

5.Be transparent with the audience as well as sources. Let them know how you contacted people, in what context you gathered the information and how you verified it (or didn't).

More on lack of trust

Following up Alistair Campbells words on the publics perception of the press and the lack of trust,an interesting piece over at Poynter Online by Roy Peter Clark.


The dangers of this lack of trust are all too obvious in that the press loses its position as the fourth estate od the guardians of checks and balances.

Clark attempts to formulate why this has happened,proposing a number of reasons including the fact that

All journalists understand that the personal bias of the writer or photographer can ooch its way into a story, which is why the protocols of "objectivity" were established to create checks and balances within the systems of news judgment, reporting, writing, editing and publishing. But sometimes the system fails.

but he

holds journalists less responsible -- and the public more responsible -- for misperceptions of news media performance

including an interesting example of why

Media credibility continues to fall during a period when America's political culture has become dangerously polarized. On radio talk show after talk show, in best-seller after best-seller, an industry has grown up with many agendas. Among the greatest of the agendas is to destroy the credibility of the mainstream press. A case can be made that sensitivity to such criticism -- along with accusations that journalists are disloyal to American interests -- softened the skeptical edge of the news media during the lead-up to the Iraqi war.

How do we put thios right? Clark offers some solutions of which one may be a path to go down

Journalists tend to despise public relations and marketing, but if we believe in our calling, we may have to find ways to reveal our best practices and best consequences to anyone who might be receptive. Let's remind them of the journalists who have risked their lives as war correspondents, or who have worked hard to create an environment on the home front