Last week, Virginia B. Edwards, the publisher of edweek.org, the Web site of Education Week newspaper, Teacher Magazine, an Education Week Research Center, and our Agent K-12 job-search site announced that this fall our Web site will no longer be completely free.
This no doubt will raise a lot of questions in your mind, so we have compiled some answers here, and we will add to these as the summer progresses. Our Web site and our newspaper will update you all summer about the changes that are coming.
In addition to keeping you informed about the changes to come, we want to give you a look at some of our thinking and want to explain why we are making this change. We encourage your comments, thoughts and reaction in exchange. That's what this blog is about: Our opportunity to comment back and forth with one another as we get closer to requiring a subscription to access most content on edweek.org.
We know this change is not without its risks. And we know there is no one roadmap to accomplish this. That's why were here talking about it.
Our publisher is allowing us to be a transparent, ongoing case study for taking a newspaper Web site from free to subscription.
I suspect many of you are asking yourselves why are we doing this? The letter from our publisher, Ms. Edwards, (linked to above) starts to answer this question, and she will write more on this blog about her reasoning and her goals.
Here are some of the questions that sent us down this path: How do we build the value of our Web site, invest in its growth, preserve the value of the newspaper, properly value our content, and stop the drift of paying subscribers to the free Web site?
And here's our dilemma: If all of our content remains on a free Web site, and if subscribers who used to pay for Education Week newspaper, drop their subscription in favor of reading the news free on the Web, then the long-term inevitability is that there won't be enough money to keep paying the reporters and editors to publish Education Week newspaper or this site.
The latest research makes this problem clear: Nielsen/NetRatings, a television and Web site ratings company, reported last week that 21 percent of online users who also read newspapers, now prefer to read newspaper articles online. Mostly, that means they are turning from a product for which they have to pay, to one where they don't. To say the least, that's not a business model that can succeed in the long run.
For edweek.org's change to requiring a subscription, we plan a three-tiered strategy of free content, registration content, and subscription content. We still have questions, however, about what content should go into each category.
Related to that, here's a problem were working on: Should we put some of our high-traffic pages behind the subscription wall or should they be free—to market our reporting and entice more people to subscribe?
Would keeping a popular page free really get people to subscribe, or is that just theory? If we keep those pages free, would we be giving readers all they want from the site, so they never would subscribe? Or, how many readers would we alienate by taking a popular page and moving it to the subscriber-only section of the site? How do we know (in advance) if the content is enough of a draw to get anyone to subscribe? Would we continue to make more money from the ads on those pages by keeping the really popular content free?
Thankfully, we have a little more information to guide us on this question because our site has required registration for almost two years. That data helped inform our decision-making on this problem. Here's how: Users of our site are asked to select whether they are school administrators, principals, teachers, students, etc. We're now studying the popular pages to see who goes there, with a particular focus on the demographics.
We feel a little safer charging for a popular page that is visited mainly by superintendents and principals than we do if that page is read mainly by teachers and students, because administrators are a significant percentage of our readers, and they probably can expense the cost of the subscription. Seems to us that the second situation means the page should be free to continue to get decent ad revenue from a demographic that very likely would not subscribe. Losing the teachers and students could mean losing our future audience.
So that's our Lesson #1: Switching to subscription is like flying blind if you don't first set up registration and gather demographic data on your users.
We will update at least weekly with major topics such as how we have changed our advertising pricing and sales tactics, how are we changing our budget projections, and what we are doing about the first-time visitor who comes to us through a search engine. But we also will have regular, shorter updates with our problem of the moment—ones we probably haven't thought about, yet. You will hear from our publisher, general manager, circulation director and others.
The next major update will explain why in the heck we are making this change. Our publisher will share the data that made her believe this is the right move for edweek.org.
We know we will benefit from a wider discussion of our ideas, and we hope you use the comment feature of this blog to let us and everyone else—know what you think. You also can send us your comments at comments@epe.org.
Another version of this blog, designed to explain the change to editors, is available at The Media Center, at the American Press Institute. We thank The Media Center for helping us contribute our experiences to the questions many editors will have to face.
Note about the author: Gary Kebbel is interim executive producer of edweek.org.
As someone that has built a few websites before bandwidth bills are a big expense.
I do think some of the stuff should be subscription based. Old Editions of the Education Week newspaper and the Teacher Magazine come to mind.
How many free Education Week articles per week should be free??? I do not know.
I do not know how much traffic the Daily News section gets, but I think that should be free even if we have to register for the website.
One of the reasons I found Education Week on the web to be so beneficial is the fact that as a teacher I cannot afford a subscription to the weekly newspaper.
So how affordable is the internet subscription going to be?
My office subscribes to EW. Like most newspapers, several people read at least parts of each issue. I prefer to read the online version because I can forward items of interest (from the electronic edition) to members of my staff.
I hope that I will still be able to do this -- in essence, "pass the issue around" even though it's electronic.
I am a long-time subscriber to Ed Week and will continue with the newspaper version, but sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I like to scan the electronic version. What about including a subscription to the electronic version for those of us who subscribe to the newspaper?
My school district subscribes to the newspaper and I have access to it, however as one of the other respondents mentioned, I also use the online edition to email relevant articles to my staff as needed. I would hate to see the online edition go completely subscription.
To those of you asking about what the subscription price for edweek.org will be, here's the information you're looking for:
Existing print subscribers will have access to edweek.org as part of their subscription. Those who do not already have a print subscription to Education Week will have three options:
* Print + online (annual)--readers that wish to receive Education Week in print will also have full access to edweek.org. $79.94 per year.
* Online only (annual)--for readers that only want access to edweek.org and do not want a print subscription to Education Week. $69 per year.
* Online only (monthly)--for readers that would like month-to-month access to edweek.org. $10 per month.
And to those who are wondering about how we will be working with those offices where multiple people read articles in edweek.org, we have created a site license. The claim code used by individual print subscribers to gain access to edweek.org can only be used once. However, the site license will allow organizations to have multiple users read edweek.org. If you would like information on site license options, please e-mail us at sitelicense@epe.org.
Answers to these questions and others are available at Frequently Asked Questions. We will update this page throughout the summer with additional questions and answers.
I just recently accessed EdWeek.org and am sorry to find out it won't be free anymore, but totally understand the rationale behind the decision to switch to subscription. I'll probably subscribe to on-line only.
A quote from your above explanation says it all:
"because administrators are a significant percentage of our readers, and they probably can expense the cost of the subscription."
Is this fair? A "class"-driven paper? No pun intended here. Of course not. But if they, the administrators, are your "significant" readers, then by all means charge them. However, will you please make their subscription be out of their personal pockets and not the taxpayers? The rest of us don't have the benefit of "purchase orders."
It appears that the Internet is not going to provide "equal" opportunity for all as projected by some previous political promises, is it?
I think you're making a mistake because on-line readership will drop. While the email service is useful, there are other sources that cost much less.
Either way, there should be a much lower price for the on-line snippets considering that there's much less in it compared to the paper version. Plus, paper and mailing costs are eliminated.
The state of public education is in crisis and I strongly feel that keeping Ed Week free is the right thing to do in order to balance out so many ugly things happening to our schools. Everyone has the right to informed and intelligent education news. One day, these little things may add up to a major thing and perhaps it may even wake up the sleeping giant. John Dewey, where are you when we need you?
Just learned of this newsletter/journal on the internet today. How expensive?
I like the fact that an online-only subscription will be available, but personally I would never pay $69/year for any online subscription (not even for my email account, which I use every single day!). I think the online-only price point should be closer to $29.95. I know that's the most I would pay.
Very sorry to hear of the changes although understand the rationale. As an educator in Australia finding a site providing such great access to a wealth of information of education issues (broadly) along with the US specific material has been incredibly helpful. Print based material sent from the US has time delays(plus the added expense due to exchange rates for subscriptions). I shall miss the contents. Cheers.
I have access to the print version at no expense to myself, but prefer to read your content online. I understand Education Week's need to sustain itself financially and want it to do so. So I would pay for access to online content, but I agree with the others who think $69 is over the top. I think $29.95 is more reasonable, and more competitive.
As indicated by Brad Ritter, I also have access to your print version but prefer to read your content online. I'm one of five administrators and if I wait for my turn to read your printed publication, I may not see it until a week later. I know about the cost of maintaining an extensive and in-depth web site like edweek.org and I can appreciate your concerns. Please remember that most academic institutions will resort to the printed page for their personnel if forced to make a choice between print or online. So, please, keep your policy of letting those subscribers to your printed version also have access to the online version.
I am an assistant principal. I read the online version often. I agree that $69.00 is alot and by the way, I don't have access to purchase orders.
Please explain the difference between the monthly-online and the annual-online. The information is awesome. Thanks for great work.
Do consider a greatly reduced fee subscription for retirees. My pension and part-time work income are stretched far enough now.
I think the price of $69 per year is a great price even for the online version. EdWeek is by far the most comprehensive ed publication out there. For those people who value their work in public education an annual price of $69 is not asking too much. You get a lot more in return in the way of knowledge that would be useful to run your schools and programs better.
As a parent who is involved with an often failing educational system I have enjoyed staying up to date with what is working and what teachers are encountering. I will miss your weekly updates but would never pay for them. Sounds like most everyone will loose out... Sorry to see you following this failed business model... Tom
Well Ashish Shah they have to go to some sort of a subscription site or else the Education Week Magazine will not exist anymore.
The magazine is a vital resoruce, but this magazine targets only a limited amount of people.
That should be Well Tom not Well Ashish Shah. My fault.
I have been a long time subscriber to EW; at least 15 years. Despite the fact that I am an administrator, I have always paid for my own subscription, because I wanted my own, on time news about what was happening in education without having to wait for someone else to finish reading it first. I am retiring from education at the end of this month and will, most assuredly continue my subscription. Print is more important to me than an on-line copy, although the latter has provided a quick read when I needed it. Your scale makes sense - what no discount for "retirees?" Go for it!
I am finishing my master's degree this summer, and I am very much aware of the need to stay current in my field.
However, as a wife of a Mississippi high school teacher, and a teacher myself, with two children in college, our finances are extremely tight.
It saddens me to know that I will not have the access in the future that I enjoy now.
I am a relatively new teacher (though also a parent with a long time interest in many of your topics). I teach in a school where time with colleagues is very limited and I have enjoyed keeping current on issues facing both public and private schools. I am a single mom, and there is no way I could afford $69/yr (or justify it, as most articles are minimally applicable to my classrooms). I think our school may subscribe to the print version, but I have only seen it very sporadically in our teacher work room. I will miss feeling like I am keeping current on so many topics, but can't afford more than the $29.95 mentioned by others.