I think the NY Times has got their online business model exactly backwards. From September the Times is going to start charging for online access to their op-ed and sports columns. News, features & photos will remain free.
What a bizarre decision. I don't think these people know what part of their operation is actually valuable.
The NY Times still has the best news coverage of any English language news provider. That's what makes the paper great. Their regular columnists are generally predictable and not all that special. Many of them are syndicated anyway. Columns written by Tom Friedman, David Brooks, Maureen Dowd and others will, presumably, still be available elsewhere online. Besides, there are millions of opinions online, many more interesting than those available at nytimes.com, but there are very few good sources for news.
If I was in charge of the Times's online business I would let anyone read Maureen Dowd for free, but charge a lot for the paper's coverage of national and international affairs.
