As “Frankenstorm” Hurricane Sandy bears down on the east coast, a few online news sources have decided to make their content freely available to everyone with an internet connection. That means tearing down those paywalls
The New York Times is making all of its content free for the duration of the storm. A spokesperson had this to say to Poynter:
“The gateway has been removed from the entire site and all apps. The plan is to keep it that way until the weather emergency is over.”
So there you go. For the time being, you will no longer be cut off after reading 10 articles on the site. All Hurricane Sandy news (and any other news on the site) is free for all. This isn’t the first time that the Times has made this move. They did the same thing for Hurricane Irene last year.
The NYT isn’t the only publication suspending paywalls for the storm. Wall Street Journal digital editor Raju Narisetti tweeted the news that his publication would also be stripping the paywalls starting Monday, October 29th:
In addition to comprehensive #Sandy coverage available now, all of http://t.co/S8I4mQIT will be open to all visitors on Monday October 29
We can debate the effectiveness of the paywall strategy until we’re blue in the face – but this week is not the time. When an unprecedented storm threatens millions of citizens, it’s simply a nice and patriotic move to make information accessible to the broadest swath of people. Be safe, everyone.
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