Alexandria, VA – Jason Stverak, President of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a national nonprofit journalism organization, released the following statement regarding the Pew Research Center’s Project for the Excellence in Journalism study that found that 11 percent of American adults own a tablet of some kind and more than half use it for news consumption with no desire to pay for it.
“This study is one of the many recent indicators that Americans do not want to pay for news they can get for free somewhere else. Hundreds of news blogs like Drudge and Huffington Post populate their sites with breaking news and analysis for free, making those who charge for content obsolete. If online news consumers get stuck behind pay walls, they can search for articles from free news sources.
It is terrific news that so many people have become early adapters to tablets and are utilizing these for news consumption. However, charging for news content is not going to succeed until either every online news site charges a nominal fee or no one charges.”
Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity promotes social welfare and civil betterment by undertaking programs that promote journalism and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence, fraud, or taxpayer abuse by elected officials at all levels of government. Founded in January of 2009, The Franklin Center is a nonpartisan organization that believes that new technology can advance the cause of transparency in government. The Franklin Center aims to educate, to advise and to train individuals and organizations from all backgrounds to become thorough, unbiased and responsible reporters well versed in new media techniques and journalistic integrity. For more information on the Franklin Center please visit www.FranklinCenterHQ.org
