Starting Dec. 3, there will be a small charge for unlimited access to The Jessamine Journal’s website. Those who subscribe to the printed paper will continue to have free access to the website until their subscription is up for renewal. At that point, there will be a nominal fee of $5 per year for unlimited online access. Print subscribers who do not wish to access the web do not have to pay the $5.
For those who do not subscribe to the paper and wish to have unlimited Web access, the fee will be $18.75 per year. The online subscription will also include unlimited access to a complete online replica of the weekly paper.
“The economic landscape is changing,” said John Preston, audience manager for Advocate Communications, The Journal’s parent company. “More people get their news online; we have to make sure we evolve to a business model that allows us to continue to supply our communities with the coverage they need and deserve.”
All website visitors can still read five local stories a month for free. To read more than that, however, a subscription would be needed.
“This won’t affect most of our online readers.” Preston said. “There will still be lots of free content that won’t count toward your five stories; breaking news, photo galleries, videos, comics, TV listings, national news and weather will all remain unlimited and free.”
Readers on the Web will be alerted as they approach the end of their free stories. Once those are used up, they will be prompted to create a login and complete the sign-up/registration process with a company called Press+.
For more on why this transition is being made, read the column by publisher Scott Schurz.
