Interview Results:

I interviewed one male and one female, one teenager and one middle aged in order to cover a variety of demographics.

Pay Wall Interview 1

Interviewee Demographic:

Age: 18      Gender: F     Occupation: Student

Answers:

1.       Interviewee 1 is interested in sport, celebrity news and entertainment.

2.      She reads magazines and papers weekly, mostly bought by her parents but would maybe buy a magazine every once in a while.

3.      Reads The Sun and News of the World

4.      She occasionally reads online journalism from professional sources but would seldom think of looking online at them. She prefers to look at sites more directly like a sports site for sports news and find out for herself. She uses the BBC site a lot because everything is there and would use it for schoolwork.

5.      BBC and gossip blogs

6.      “NO!” She would not pay for online subscriptions because she thinks it would be cheaper to get it in print or find it free elsewhere. It would have to offer something extra to make her pay. She thinks she would consider paying for an online subscription is she was in a full time job where she needed a range of information a lot but for personal use wouldn’t bother spending the money. 

Pay Wall Interview 2

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Interviewee Demographic:

Age: 46       Gender: M      Occupation: Teacher

Answers:

1.       Interviewee 2 is interested in politics, current affairs, football and other sport and likes to keep up to date with all of it.

2.      He reads print journalism daily and likes to relax with a paper after work.

3.      He reads the Independent throughout the week and The Independent on Sunday and will occasionally read Empire Magazine

4.      He only reads online journalism if he wants to catch up on and old story that won’t be in the paper. He reads online weekly or fortnightly, depending on if he’s following a story or not.

5.      He would use The Times for a specific story, and has in the past but mostly looks at The Guardian online and The Independent online.

6.      No, He would not pay for an online subscription because it’s not relaxing scrolling down on a screen and he likes to chill with his paper.

ADDITIONAL:

 Interviewee 2 didn’t think it was wrong for the Murdoch papers to ask people to pay but believes it is a mistake that will lose them readership. He dislikes the papers currently under a pay wall anyway though and would rarely use them as a source.

He would be annoyed if the papers he read went under a pay wall as he doesn’t think it’s fair to have to pay for information. He’s aware that The Guardian charge for access to archive stories and thinks this is wrong and will put off students and young people from looking at what would otherwise be a useful source.

 

Pay wall survey results:

1. What age are you?
16-24 - 69.4%
25-35 - 8.3%
35-40 - 11.1%
45-55 - 11.1%
50+ - 0%

2.Which title does your occupation best fit?
Student......................52.3%
Creative & social.......30.6%
Governmental.............5.6%
Banking & Money......2.8%
Service.......................2.8%
Other.........................5.6%

3. How often do you read online journalism? 
(specifically from sources that are also in print like newspapers)
Daily..............................61.8%
Weekly..........................23.5%
Monthly.........................2.9%
Every few months..........5.9%
Rarely or never.............5.9%

4. How often do you read print journalism?
Daily................................50%
Weekly............................44.1%
Monthly...........................5.9%
Every few months............0%
Rarely or never................0%

5. Do you, or would you consider, pay for any online journalism such as a subscription to The Times online?
Yes, I pay for an online subscription.....3.0%
Yes, I would consider paying online.....54.5%
No, I would never pay online.............. 42.4%

-if no to above question, please explain why. 

1.	There's loads of free stuff there - I pay for print editions of the news I want to read on the train etc. Sometimes I also read the same free content at work etc
2.	I don't hold enough interest in it. I'd rather just watch the news to keep up to date with what's happening.
3.	Don't have the time or the money
4.	I would prefer to get my news from a different source.
5.	Information is freely available in multiple locations and the internet spreads this quickly so there is never really a need
6.	I can get it free online.
7.	I prefer to read through a physical newspaper then flick through internet articles.
8.	I'm a working class girl...money is the issue for me.
9.	I shouldn't have to!
10.	Why pay for an online subscription when I can read it in real life?
11.	it may not always be accessible

 -if yes to above question please explain why you feel it's neccesary or acceptable to have to pay. 

1.	Otherwise the poor guys doing the load of work won't get paid and it'd be like returning back to the dark ages with the exploitation of workers and that
2.	As a journalist, I appreciate that content is very valuable and has taken time, the use of sources etc and should be appreciated.
3.	If the content is strong/unique enough, I'd pay.
4.	I BELEIVE THAT WHEN PEOPLE MAKE AN EFFORT TO DO WORK OF ANY SORT THEY SHOULD BE REWARDED IN CASH OR KIND
5.	The last few years have provided free online journalism; we have become used to free access
6.	We pay for print journalism so I believe that it is deemed reasonable to have to pay for online content. I do believe that the NOTW website should be 'pay per story' and not subscription. More people are likely to pay 17-20p per story than £1 for 24 hours.
7.	Money well spent - keeping up to date with current affairs
8.	Would need to cost less than buying the paper every day. Would need to have additional features AND have options to read on e-reader.
9.	In order to help secure quality journalism. And if I'm offered something additional on the web which i won't access without subscription.
10.	I don't think it's that acceptable to pay for something to read to gain information about the world. I do still have an online subscription because I'm very interested in reading things like that, so if that means I have to pay for it then so be it.
11.	It would depend on what was on offer. If I would make use of extras, then yes. At the moment I can't see myself paying, but who knows what the future brings.
12.	I'm not likely to in near future but if I used Ipad or similar I could imagine paying if it was cheaper and more convenient than paying for print journalism

Primary reasearch 1: Online Survey

You can view my survey at:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/K5DJZ6Y
 

I distributed the survey across the internet by
1. Emailing the link to relevant contacts
2. Publishing on my own facebook account
3. Posting on facebook walls of leading newspapers and magazines in the UK and USA including The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, News of the World and others.