Let's tear down the pay walls

The Financial Times, probably THE source in Brussels EU media landscape, has announced that it will change its subscription model for its online presence www.ft.com

In short, the FT has abandoned the little "subscription only" signs, previously sitting next to many of their article links, making them now available for free for occasional users. The subscription page will only show up again when you have read more than 30 stories during a given month.

The move in order not to lose out to free-access information sources comes after the New York Times has closed its subscription-based site Times Select and the Wall Street Journal is said to drop its subscription model for wsj.com

When leading international media with strong influence on political decision making start to tear down their pay walls, for how long still can Brussels' EU media stay behind their virtual walls?

The question of free-access or subscription-based news web sites will also play a role for the new online presence of European Voice, indirectly belonging to the same media group as the FT.

While the print edition of European Voice is already freely distributed within EU institutions and at hotels and events in Brussels it would be a logical step to open up also the online edition of the leading newspaper entirely dedicated to EU affairs. In the end, the future is online, and other EU online media, like EUObserver and EurActiv have already gained access to a much broader audience, thanks to their free-access policy.

In the end its all about attention and visbility. As long as quality content is offered, the money coming via subscriptions will in the long term be substituted by online advertising.