Oklahoma College Newspaper to Begin Charging for Content

Oklahoma State University’s student newspaper is making a switch to the paid content model, and will be the first of its kind to begin charging some of its readers for content. The Daily O’Collegian will begin to charge non-local readers that are not affiliated with the university and visit the site more than three times per month.
Ray Catalino, the Daily O’Collegian’s general manager, said:
“We’ve always known that the content our students produce has value well beyond the free drop distribution of our newspaper. Charging a modest fee to access our online content for non-students who live outside Stillwater helps us foster that belief.”
Last month, the paper entered into an agreement with Press Plus, an e-commerce platform that will give them the technological capability to charge visitors to read content.
The prevailing opinion thus far is that few people without any affiliate with OSU would have any interest in much of the student paper’s content. Instead of making any money off this, they’re simply shooting themselves in the foot and will kill off any non-affiliated readers that they may have had. That’s probably why they’re the first college paper to try to charge for their content – there’s simply no demand for it and most other papers are savvy enough to realize that.

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