Is ‘free’ the future newspaper model?

Yesterday we talked about what the experts see for the future.
Today we’ll talk about one model for market penetration.
These predictions came out of our Atlanta summit last weekend.
Kevin Slimp sees a lot of markets as he travels the country.
Kevin heads the Newspaper Technology Institute in Tennessee.
He predicts more ‘paid’ newspapers will convert to ‘free’.
It’s a way to give advertisers greater access to their ideal prospects.
Scripps-Howard has converted many of their papers, he said.
A twice-weekly Miami newspaper distributes 2.5 million copies.
It follows the model of giving free news on the Internet.
Young people, some say, want news but won’t pay for it.
Ken Blum, author of Black Ink: The Book, sees limits to free.
Free papers work in urban markets but not community markets.
We could see urban papers go from mass to elitist audiences.
Their goal: Deliver high income readers to advertisers.
Two South Carolina publishers have gone ‘free’ and made it work.
Their advertisers pay for a higher penetration of desired homes.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about what will keep newspapers profitable.
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