Digital Fishwrap

So newspapers are looking for ways to end the Free Ride Online reports Katharine Seelye in the New York Times.  At the same time their online ads are bring them record revenues, a 45% increase in 2004 over 2003. 

Seems to me that putting all their archives behind a pay wall further diminishes their influence at the same time it increases the long tail for the blogs who quote liberally from daily newspapers.

Why not charge for the fresh stuff and give away the stale stuff asks Doc Searls.  Great and good reporters for newspapers are not being given the credit they deserve when you can no longer find their articles on Google.  Doc Searls again on Suitwatch

On the whole, blogs are highly compliant with the ethics of the periodicals section, the ethics of the stacks, the ethics of sourcing and archiving, the ethics of giving credit where due.     

The bottom line: In the age of the Web, the practice of charging  for access to digital archives is a colossal anachronism.  It's time for the New York Times and the other papers to step forward, join the real world and correct the problem. Expose the archives.  Give them permanent URLs. Let in the bots. Let their writers and their      reputations accept the credit they are constantly given and truly      deserve.      In other words, stop the printwash.