
SFChronicle.com comes amid a new wave of effort by newspapers to squeeze subscriber revenue from their digital products and less than a week after the Washington Post, long a hold-out, announced it will go behind a modified pay-wall this summer.
The big question, of course, is whether non-subscribers to the Chronicle’s print edition (or at least enough of them) will fork over $12 a month for the new digital offering. Or, for that matter, whether the Chron’s Sunday-only print subscribers will pony up an additional $100 a year for it. It comes as an add-on for 7-day print subscribers. (Check the cost; your mileage may vary.) The screen grab above is from PaidContent, which has a story.
Related: One small change unique to the new platform so far: star columnist Willie Brown, who is famously exempt from the Chronicle’s ethics policies, has a new descriptor beneath his byline: “Freelance columnist.”
Also worth noting: Blogger Jim Romenesko was quick to point out that the pay-wall announcement itself was originally behind a pay wall. But alas, you may now read it for free.
Ultimate irony? Also via Romenesko, from an anonymous Chronicle staffer:
“I wish I could leak you the text of the announcement, but management won’t give employees logins to the premium site unless we buy a subscription. So we can’t even read our own work!”