New York Times: Sulzberger risks his legacy
Following an introduction in Canada, the ballyhooed program will be rolled out on March 28 to digital subscribers in the United States and the rest of the world. The execution is in step with the 21st century. It is a multilayered plan designed to cater to the segmented markets of mobile devices and tablets. It has his fingerprints all over it.
Sulzberger has to get this right. It isn’t hyperbolic to suggest that the future of the company and the newspaper depends on its command of digital technology.
I have written and said on television news shows that if the parent’s financial structure weakens further, the company will eventually be bought by acquisition-minded Bloomberg L.P.
If the new pay model flops, critics will blast Sulzberger for taking the wrong path — again. With Times Select, the paper’s previous attempt to charge for online content, Sulzberger seemed to miscalculate its appeal to the public. The Times installed a pay model for many of its esteemed columnists while continuing to offer the news content for free.
The program failed to meet expectations and it was eventually killed.
Now, Sulzberger is gambling that Times readers are so loyal that they’ll pony up the bucks to continue reading the paper online.
Quality journalism
Sulzberger’s reputation took a hit with the woes of Times Select. It made people question whether he had a keen understanding of the digital world, not to mention the appeal of the Times itself.
For decades, the name Sulzberger has stood for quality journalism. Sulzberger’s father and grandfather ran the empire. The current occupant of the throne has a lot to live up to.
Sulzberger can be friendly and outgoing in interviews, and occasionally churlish. A few years ago, for instance, I interviewed him for an hour in his office about the state of the Times.
After I published an account of the conversation — focusing on some of the paper’s well-documented problems — he offered a blunt appraisal of the story. “Why is Jon just clearing his throat?” Sulzberger asked an associate, implying that the piece was a snoozer. (I thought it was a clever put-down and have used that phrase myself ever since).
Perhaps the wait for the new paid-content program will be worth it. Sulzberger has spent long hours in Silicon Valley, trying to figure out how to make it work at the Times.
It comes as a relief that the Times has made an announcement at last. The world has waited and waited as Sulzberger agonized over what to do. It became a big parlor game in the media industry. Would he charge everyone to read the paper’s news and columnists? Or, would he instead only charge for news?
Only the star-crossed Broadway production of “Spider-Man” has had a more tortured roll out than the enactment of the Times’s pay model.
For decades, the name Sulzberger has stood for quality journalism. Sulzberger’s father and grandfather ran the empire. The current occupant of the throne has a lot to live up to. Sulzberger can be friendly and outgoing in interviews, and occasionally churlish. A few years ago, for instance, I interviewed him for an hour in his office about the state of the Times. After I published an account of the conversation — focusing on some of the paper’s well-documented problems — he offered a blunt appraisal of the story. “Why is Jon just clearing his throat?” Sulzberger asked an associate, implying that the piece was a snoozer. (I thought it was a clever put-down and have used that phrase myself ever since). Worth the wait? Perhaps the wait for the new paid-content program will be worth it. Sulzberger has spent long hours in Silicon Valley, trying to figure out how to make it work at the Times. It comes as a relief that the Times has made an announcement at last. The world has waited and waited as Sulzberger agonized over what to do. It became a big parlor game in the media industry. Would he charge everyone to read the paper’s news and columnists? Or, would he instead only charge for news? Only the star-crossed Broadway production of “Spider-Man” has had a more tortured roll out than the enactment of the Times’s pay model.