The Times paywall: content has a value as well as a price

I expect there will be many people today who are disappointed by the news that The Times and other News International titles will need to be paid for online from June this year.  Like everyone else, I love getting good stuff for free.  But today’s announcement is in fact great news for those who appreciate quality writing. 
 
I’m a regular Times reader because, for the most part, I can rely on its news to be reliably sourced and well-informed.  And I particularly like some of its commentators: Ann Treneman and Caitlin Moran make me laugh out loud and Matthew Parris and others get me thinking about politics and the economy from a different perspective. 
 
There are millions of sources of news and comment on the internet, nearly all of them free, but to me £2 a week seems like a small amount to pay for something that informs me and entertains me every day. 
 
The news business is now facing the same conundrum the music industry has struggled with for almost ten years.  Producing high quality journalism or music costs a great deal of money, and how do you keep on making those investments if you don’t have an effective means of generating a return? Like music companies, most national newspapers have been cutting back on staff, including many talented writers.  If no action is taken, the inevitable outcome is that that the quality content we all enjoy begins to dry up, and the creative sector stops generating jobs, which are critical as the digital world takes a bigger share of the UK economy.
 
The decision taken by The Times is a difficult one, and like the music industry I am sure they will find that the path is rocky.  But music companies have innovated and established a firm foothold for pay services in the digital world – they now account for 20% of our revenues.
 
When it comes to the digital world, we need to remember the value of content as well as the price.  Quality media that rewards creativity is worth paying for.