I tackled Times executive editor Danny Finkelstein (pictured) and Sunday Times executive editor Tristan Davies on how their new, separate websites will fare behind the paywall (audio)…
Said Finkelstein…
“We’re aware that a lot of people that read the site won’t go on doing it once we charge. But, on the other hand, we’ll have a closer relationship with those people who do … every person we get is a gain in revenue.”
“I’m not all concerned (about losing influence). Somebody pays me, and that person has to be paid by someone else if they’re going to go on paying me. For columnists, this is a very exciting, important moment. If The Times and Sunday Times can make this succeed, it’s good news for journalists of all kinds.
“People say, ‘You can go viral if it’s free’ – but you can also go out of busines. It’s not always a good idea to have a virus. We know that people will buy The Times and Sunday Times (online) because people already buy The Times and Sunday Times (in print).
“What we’ve done is take the values of the paper and make the values available to people in new forms on the site.”