Can Online Finally Pay 0ff?: Journalism Online Co-Founder Gordon Crovitz Thinks So-And Discusses How His Company Plans to Make It Happen

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JOURNALISM ONLINE HAS ARRIVED on the paid-content scene with the purpose of providing publishers a wider variety of options in charging for online access. With its Press+ service, publishers can determine which of its Web offerings will carry a price tag, which readers will find it most valuable, and exactly what that price will be. Those revenues will be split by page views among the participating publishers.

The company's Reader Revenue Platform offers the flexibility of charging from single-article micropayments to all-you-can-read bulk subscriptions across multiple publications. Once readers register for a universal Press+ username and password, they can use the same login to purchase content across all Press+ affiliate sites.

Former Wall Street Journal Publisher Gordon Crovitz, one of the partners in this venture and no stranger to charging for online content, spoke with E&P about Journalism Online and how it might enable newspaper publishers to finally start turning "digital dimes" into hard profits.

While deciding to become a Journalism Online affiliate, what kind of critical questions should newspapers ask you?

The first issue for publishers is to identify the core of what readers expect from each brand and what journalism or other services the publisher provides that are distinctive …