The Washington Post plans to start charging for some digital content starting this summer, becoming one of the last major US newspapers to reach into readers' wallets for new online revenue.
Online readers of the Post will be required to pay a subscription fee after accessing 20 free articles per month. Subscribes to the print edition of the newspaper will have free access to all of the Post's digital content.
The Post, which made the announcement on Monday, did not release any additional details on pricing.
The plan to start charging readers for digital access comes as newspapers face serious challenges because advertisers - once a main source of revenue - are choosing to put their dollars into other media.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 04: Bob Woodward, associate editor at The Washington Post, speaks during the annual conference of the National Association of Counties (NACo) March 4, 2013 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. Woodward discussed his new book 'The Price of Politics' and had a book signing for his readers.
Washington: Apparently buoyed by its high strike rate on terror, the US spy agency CIA is seeking to expand its drone fleet to sustain the lethal campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen and emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa.
The CIA has sought approval from the White House for the move that would extend the spy service's decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force, The Washington Post reported quoting US officials.
Washington: As a Washington Post article on the allegedly poor leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh created a strong reaction in Delhi, the US daily's correspondent said he stood by the story and offered no apology.
I stand by the story, wrote Simon Denyer, the Post's India bureau chief and author of the story, in a blog post Wednesday in response to a complaint from Pankaj Pachauri, communications adviser at the Prime Minister's Office.
My apology was for the fact that the website was down and the PM's office could not post a reply directly. As soon as the problem was fixed, I informed them, added Denyer.
In a strong rebuke to the The Washington Post article that dubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a 'tragic failure', the Prime Minister's Office has released a letter written to the author of the article - Simon Denyer - pointing out the unethical and unprofessional conduct at his part.
Here is the full text of the letter:
Dear Simon,
We do not complain about criticism of the government which is a journalist's right. But I am writing this letter for pointing out unethical and unprofessional conduct at your part.
I would like to put on record my complaint about your article which was published today on many counts:
- Despite all lines of conversations open, you never got in touch with us for our side of the story though you regularly talk to me about information from the PMO. This story thus becomes totally one sided.
Did we need The Washington Post to tell us about the inefficacy of the present government? The performance of the Indian rupee is enough for the world to know that there is something wrong with the country's economy. The Washington Post article is similar to that of the rating agencies downgrading India; it only follows what the markets have already factored in and the markets are currently factoring in the worst for the country.
The currency markets are the biggest punishers of wrong-doers. It is a well established fact that currency trading is 95 percent speculation and 5 percent actual flows. The biggest punishment currency markets have meted out is the collapse of the British pound in the early nineties when the British economy was doddering, and the free fall in the value of the Asian Tiger economies of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and Thailand in the late nineties, when the Asian economic bubble burst.
