Public radio station KHNS recently started offering written-word versions of its stories on its website on a free, daily basis.
That’s a good deal if you like to read your news for free, but not such a bargain for the Chilkat Valley News, which sells a written-word version of the news on its website. For us, it’s like being a doughnut shop and having the government-funded nonprofit next door – which previously gave away bagels – start giving away doughnuts.
KHNS board members and staff say the station has ventured into written-word stories because listeners have insisted on it and because public stations elsewhere do the same thing. Obviously, people would rather read the news for free. For years our readers have asked us to post our stories online for free. We’ve politely told those folks that gathering the news costs money and we can’t afford to give away our stories any more than a grocery store can afford to give away groceries.
But KHNS, because it receives more than $300,000 in government grants and contributions per year, can afford to give away its broadcast stories and now, written stories as well.
The reason the CVN can’t be as generous has to do with advertising. Instead of government grants, it’s print advertising that pays most of a newspaper’s bills. Once local stories can be read free online, consumers are less likely to buy a printed paper. That’s human nature. And a newspaper that’s not read can’t charge as much for its advertising and loses money. It’s that simple.
Newspapers all over the country that experimented with posting news stories free online and shifting advertising there have switched to “paywalls” in part because people tend to not notice online advertising like they do ads in print. (That’s also the reason that many Internet ads have switched to the “drop-down” variety that block your content until you “watch the commercial.”)
KHNS, with its huge advantage of government funding, is not bound by such rules of the marketplace. Further, it has ventured from its broadcast mission into new territory that dilutes this private business’s ability to raise money.
The station could elect to be a good neighbor by considering options such as:
1) Posting only free, daily audio versions of its stories on its website as was its previous practice; or,
2) Waiting a week before posting written-word stories; or,
3) Offering written-word stories only to members donating more than $100 per year to the station (a type of “paywall”); or
4) Foregoing written-word stories and instead allocating its resources to broadcasting more local news from Skagway and Haines.
At the very least, the station could stop promoting its new, transcribed stories.
For years, the Chilkat Valley News and KHNS have engaged in a friendly competition for news and have been mutually supportive of each other. The CVN would like to maintain that relationship, which is in the best interest of the community and news consumers. But we’re feeling pinched.
– Tom Morphet