Paywall
An online paywall is a method that creates a barrier to access online content that is surpassed using a paid subscription.[1] Paywalls are commonly used by news outlets to provide their content in a digital format while still maintaining a subscription model, maintaining ties to the traditional paper news outlets of the past.[2] The term paywall is also used to refer to academic and scholarly articles or journals that require a subscription or other payment to access.[3] There is debate and lack of consensus surrounding the moral and ethical soundness of paywalls.[2]
Contents
History
In 1996, The Wall Street Journal was the first national newspaper that created a paywall across the entire site.[1]
Classifications
There are various types of paywalls. The most common sub-categories are hard paywalls, soft (metered) paywalls, and freemium (Combination) paywalls. [4]
Hard
A hard paywall is the most restrictive type of paywall. Content obscured behind a hard paywall can only be accessed when a user has paid the subscription or fee. There are no free versions, and there are no free trials. A hard paywall restricts access to an entire site or service: there is no free section. There may be several tiers; each of which allow access to increasingly more content for an increasingly higher price. [1] The Times is a notable outlet that employs the hard paywall, which it implemented in 2010. [5] Amongst those who believe that paywalls are unethical, this type of paywall is considered to be the most unethical and restrictive.
Soft
Soft, or metered, paywalls allow access to some premium content while restricting the rest. A common implementation of a metered paywall is to allow access to a particular number of articles per month, and require payment to read more than this predefined number. This is a model that The Washington Post has implemented; users are allowed to view between 7 and 10 articles for free each month, and to view additional articles requires a subscription.[1]
Freemium
Freemium or Combination paywalls are a mix of free and restricted content. Sites using this model will usually offer a limited free version of their content; the premium (paid) version has additional benefits, such as higher quality or additional functionality.[5] The premium content is behind a hard paywall; this differs from a site-wide hard paywall in that in this case content is selectively restricted.
Perception
Industry
Readers
Paywalls in Practice
News
Academia
Many academic journals and articles require payment in exchange for access.
Ethical Considerations
The Online Public Sphere
Pay to be Informed
The New Republic author Alex Pareene articulates the argument that subscription models such as paywalls intrinsically select an audience that is seeking high-quality content, and have the means and desire to pay for it. By extension, this excludes people who would otherwise equally benefit from this high-quality content but are unable or unwilling to pay for it. [6]
Power and Open Access to Information
Globalization has accelerated information production in an interconnected world in which research is done by scholars who are more diverse. However, some argue that paywalls diminish the benefits provided by this information production. [7] Those debating the ethics of paywalls ask the question: who has the power to decide which information is obscured by a paywall? The answer, clearly, is content publishers. Those who argue against the use of paywalls cite the growing market domination of a few academic publishers, allowing them to set high prices. These barriers make it more difficult for teachers, economically-disadvantaged people, and policy-makers to access this information.[8] Paywalls limit access to a small proportion of the population, who is able to use this access to further advance their privilege. [7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Shah, S. (n.d.). Understanding the Effects of Online Paywalls on Information Access. Oregon State University.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harvey, B. (2021, January 20). Should News Sites Have Paywalls? The Prindle Post. https://www.prindlepost.org/2021/01/should-news-sites-have-paywalls/
- ↑ Taylor, M. (2013, January 17). Hiding your research behind a paywall is immoral. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/jan/17/open-access-publishing-science-paywall-immoral
- ↑ Pickard, V., & Williams, A. T. (2014). Salvation Or Folly? Digital Journalism, 2(2), 195–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2013.865967
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rußell, R., Berger, B., Stich, L., Hess, T., & Spann, M. (2020). Monetizing Online Content: Digital Paywall Design and Configuration. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 62(3), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-020-00632-5
- ↑ Harvey, B. (2021, January 20). Should News Sites Have Paywalls? The Prindle Post. https://www.prindlepost.org/2021/01/should-news-sites-have-paywalls/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Eaves, L. E. (2021). Power and the paywall: A Black feminist reflection on the socio-spatial formations of publishing. Geoforum, 118, 207–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.04.002
- ↑ Gershenson, S., Polikoff, M. S., & Wang, R. (2020). When Paywall Goes AWOL: The Demand for Open-Access Education Research. Educational Researcher, 49(4), 254–261. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20909834
