The era of "news is free" is over: CSM editor

Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma told a b2b industry conference yesterday that, the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s also marks the end of the Internet growth era, and the end of the notion that “news is free.”

According to a story in Folio:, he told the Digital Velocity conference presented by American Business Media that CSM laid the groundwork early that allowed it to drop its daily print paper and go entirely digital:

“The decision to do this was about two years in the making,” Yemma said. “We took a deep dive into our financials and best practices, which included prototyping and market research. The tipping point came last summer when the obvious choice was digital.”

He added: “Everyone talks multiplatform, but we couldn’t have made this decision if we hadn’t done the groundwork a few years ago.”