We know that information is gold. But for those who believe they have found a way to sell information that can be accessed for nothing, the ore may be fool’s gold. And the list of alchemists trying to do it is pretty impressive: News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, ACI CEO Barry Diller, MediaNews Group CEO Mary Junck, and a whole host of magazine, press and media lords for whom experience does not seem to have triumphed over cockeyed optimism. Diller categorically assets categorically that “People will pay for content. They always have…I absolutely believe the Internet is passing from its free phase into a paid system.”

Jon Fine, blogging in Business Week’s MediaCentric online column, describes two new ventures, Journalism Online and ViewPass, whose founders seem confident they can roll back the Information Wants to be Free tide that is swamping the newspaper and magazine businesses. Though he approaches the schemes with some well founded skepticism (“Too good to be true?”), Fine nevertheless sees how a subscription model just might work this time. The key is something called Freemium, which sounds like a blend of gasolines but is actually a blend of concepts:

” The preferred terms du jour describe “premium” offerings, or even, forgive them, ‘freemium,’ given the blend of free and paid. The dream dancing through some executives’ heads involves a hybrid model: maintaining much or all existing free traffic while charging some subscribers fees for certain offerings, then using data from these users’ browsing habits to help sell ultra-targeted — and thus higher-priced — advertising.”

Fine points out that for any of these “moonshots” (his word) to work, “publishers would have to agree on a platform, consumers would have to use it, and then, most importantly, companies would have to buy ads.” What he leaves out is the most important condition of all: ironclad security against the predations of hackers and file-sharing freemongers. If a digital illiterate can penetrate a subscription website (see A Google-Fu Master Unlocks the Wall Street Journal. Or, How I Know Subscription Model Won’t Work), what can an army of determined geeks accomplish?

Nevertheless, we wish these enterprising business men and woman success and godspeed. I have instructed my stockbroker to buy shares in the first newspaper or magazine that can demonstrate a truly foolproof subscription model. As he’s fond of reminding me, though, there are an awful lot of fools out there.

RC
Every blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by Business Week.
Painting by Herbert James Draper