Photo: The Salt Lake Tribune Building in Salt Lake City, UT, by CoolHandLuke, Wikimedia
“Utah-based newspaper The Salt Lake Tribune has [dropped] its paywall, instead offering paying readers membership tiers which keep its online journalism free to all. The 150-year-old US title moved into community-led nonprofit ownership in 2019 after successive rounds of cost cuts and financial difficulties. It switched from daily publication in 2020. CEO and executive editor Lauren Gustus told Press Gazette: ‘We talked about the paywall and the idea that some people can’t afford to access quality or trusted news, and some people will never pay for The Salt Lake Tribune,’ adding the paper ‘had to change our value proposition and what we were offering people.’”
“To prepare for the paywall lift, The Tribune fundraised $2.6m, matching its average annual digital subscription revenue, allowing it to run membership tests with subscribers, make election reporting free in the run up to lifting the paywall altogether and giving it a ‘degree of a runway based on what may or may not happen.’ … The Tribune is also hoping the removal of the paywall will increase digital advertising revenue, having accounted for around 9.6% of total revenue in 2025.”
“The Tribune was the first major US newspaper to become a nonprofit. The Institute for Nonprofit News says it supports 500 such news organisations in the US. Paul McCarthy-Brain, chief executive at Flip-Pay, said: ‘Local news is dying. And if you go and have a look at the American Journalism Project’s website, you will see that a nonprofit donation model is a way to protect themselves from acquisition.’ He said readers then choose to donate ‘to keep funding journalism as a way of protecting the brands from being swallowed up by the large conglomerates.’”
“Sarabeth Berman, chief executive of the American Journalism Project, said the ‘market failure of local news’ has led to a new generation of news organisations treating it as a public good. ‘The nonprofit local news organisations across the American Journalism Project’s portfolio have shown that sustainability doesn’t require a paywall,’ she said. ‘Readers shift from paying for access to supporting something they believe in – and that relationship is durable. The Salt Lake Tribune was the first legacy newspaper to convert to nonprofit status, and we believe it will continue to be a leader in the field.’”
Courtesy PRESSGAZETTE
