Free News Unsustainable, Says Warren Buffett

Posted by Soulskill on Friday May 25, 2012 @09:29AM from the there-ain't-no-such-thing-as-a-free-article dept.

Koreantoast writes "Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway recently purchased 63 newspapers and plans to purchase more over the next few years, noted during an interview that the current free content model is unsustainable and will likely continue pushing toward more electronic subscription models. This coincides with moves by other newspaper companies like Gannett and the New York Times, which are also erecting paywall systems. Buffett notes that newspapers focusing on local content will have a unique product, which would succeed even if they lose subscribers, because their services are irreplaceable. Is this the beginning of the end of 'free content' for local news?"

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Re:The End of Free? by Mikkeles · 2012-05-25 09:53 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Even better; but I wonder how long advertising can sustain such an effort. I've also found that many of the free papers are totally irrelevant wrt newsworthiness due to being just a collection of syndicated items.

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Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.