Good day all. CNN was once considered to be the “Premier global news service.” It “Made it’s bones” with the first Gulf War and used that to get itself into airports and dentists offices all over the world. Then people saw just how they were playing fast and loose with the truth.
It took a while, but CNN’s credibility took a swan dive into an open air raw sewage tank. It took the election of the Greatest President of the 21st Century, Donald Trump, to pull back the covers on how CNN wasn’t so much covering the news as covering it up or even worse, making it up.
In short order, CNN’s finances went into free fall. Eventually, when AT&T spun off Warner Brothers, they unloaded their unwanted step child on them. Since then, the head of Warner Brothers has been trying to turn CNN around financially. Now they’ve come up with a spectacularly stupid idea. Put up a paywall on the news site. Here are the details from CNN itself:
CNN, one of the most popular news websites in the world, is starting to ask some of its visitors to pay $3.99 a month for access.
On Tuesday, the news organization is laying the first bricks in a so-called paywall that should, over time, help foot the bill for CNN’s journalism around the world.
“Starting today, we are asking users in the United States to pay a small recurring fee for unlimited access to CNN.com’s world-class articles,” Alex MacCallum, CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, wrote in an internal memo outlining the plan.
Well, I won’t be paying them a dime. I almost never go to the CNN web site, and when I do, I make sure I disinfect my computer, keyboard and monitor.
The average visitor to CNN’s website, who may only read a few articles a month, will not be prompted to pay at this time. “Only after users consume a certain number of free articles will they be prompted to subscribe,” MacCallum explained. “In addition to unlimited access to CNN.com’s articles, subscribers will receive benefits like exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism, and fewer digital ads.”
I wonder just how many articles people will get to see before the paywall falls on them? I suspect only a very few, probably less then 10. If they set up their paywal the way I think they might, I know a few ways to get around it, if I could be interested enough in CNN to bother.
MacCallum and her boss Mark Thompson, the chairman and chief executive of CNN, are both veterans of The New York Times, which is widely envied in the news business for its success in converting online readers and gamers into paying subscribers.
The NY Slimes isn’t doing as well as CNN claims they are. They aren’t a trusted source for news any longer since they decided to be nothing more than a propaganda rag for the Democrat Party. Occasionally I will see something or a link will be provided that leads to the Slimes site. Sometimes I can see the story, other times I can’t. When I can see it, I usually wonder why I bothered.
In a memo over the summer, Thompson said CNN would “create best-in-class, subscription-ready products that will provide need-to-know news, analysis and context in compelling new formats and experiences, starting with CNN.com’s first subscription product launching before the end of 2024.”
I don’t subscribe to news sites. Fox has a subscription service and I won’t pay for it. Other sites do as well and I won’t bother with them. Any stories they post that I can’t read, but am interested in, I can usually find other sources for them. As for CNN’s latest plan, I gather they’ve forgotten all about CNN+.
Under previous management, CNN developed a streaming video product called CNN+ in 2022 to create direct-to-consumer relationships with fans of the network. That product, launching just days before a new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, took control and looked for cost savings, was doomed, however. CNN+ was cancelled within a matter of weeks.
That’s a nice excuse. CNN+ was garbage. No one was paying to see it. It didn’t help that CNN was paying their “Talent” way more then they were worth. It looks like CNN isn’t the only News service that is going the paywall route.
Thomson Reuters, the world’s largest international multimedia news provider, on Tuesday announced that it will also launch a paywall for its website and app in early October. The news outlet shared that subscriptions will be available worldwide for a $1 weekly fee.
The only time I see something from Reuters is when another site posts something from them that they licensed. I can’t remember the last time I went to their site. I’m not alone in not wanting to waste my limited financial resources on what is generally nothing more than left wing propaganda.
Smaller news organizations have run up against subscription fatigue and other sources of resistance – a reflection of the fact that virtually all news coverage was published for free when the World Wide Web was popularized in the 1990s.
This is why many smaller sites are sticking with ads. Small, non-intrusive ads work. Those sites that have nothing but ads popping up nonstop end up being ignored. (They also run into ad blockers) CNN is going to be very disappointed with their sales numbers. Their subscribers will be the die hard left that has money, (They also watch MSNBC and think they’re unbiased), other journalists, and not many others.
CNN is circling the drain. They can’t do what needs to be done as an institution. (Most of their staff should be in an institution) The entire company needs to do a full “Rip and Replace,” and it will be years to restore the credibility they threw away. I doubt they will be in business in 10 years without major infusions of cash.
Thatisall
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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