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The future of newspapers and issuing a paywall. Also talks about a metered paywall. New business models. 

Paywall supporters love to point to the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal -- along with claims from various paywall companies that more and more newspapers are moving over to such a model. However, we've been hearing plenty of stories suggesting that for most every newspaper that isn't a major national or international brand, the paywalls are looking like dismal failures

The San Francisco Chronicle is removing its paywall after just four months and the Dallas Morning News plans to follow suit. Observers are speculating that this could be the end of the nearly two-year-old binge that has seen more than one-third of U.S. newspapers erect barriers to their online content. - See more at: http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/paywalls-come-tumbling-down/#sthash.L5vBAsXY.dpuf

This could be a precursor to what is to come in the future. This newspaper website has decided to drop its paywall. Instead of a paywall, the website is now providing an "enhanced design and layout" option that will cost $2.99 a week for its customers.

USA Today President and Publisher Larry Kramer said at a panel in New York that the paper is "exploring" a paywall, Keith J. Kelly reports. Reached by email, Kramer told Poynter, "No plan exists. We're studying it." Kramer also said the paper will remove its trademark white boxes from some locations, Kelly reports. It expects sales from such boxes to decline by about one-third after a planned price hike from $1 to $2 next Monday: "Most people are not going to have eight quarters in their pocket," Kramer told the panel

This article gives us a possible outlook on the future of online newspaper websites. Video journalism is an emerging trend, and it provides greater economical benefits from its advertisements than regular web based ads. This can help move some forms of online news from paywalls to being "free to the public", since they make up for profits with advertisements.

This academic journal talks about how changes are being implemented in the way that paywalls work. Micropayment services are changing the way that newspaper websites and blogger websites will work. In a sense, the more views that a page gets viewed, the blogger / artist / journalist can get a "tip" from the the viewers.

That's the second quarter in a row that the NYT has set new lows for digital-subs growth (it added 36,000 in the first quarter), signalling that the slowdown is real and circulation revenue growth is no longer quite enough to offset advertising declines. Revenue was down 1 percent from a year ago.

This article provides a very straightforward approach to what the newspaper industry must do to survive. In a nutshell, newspaper companies must transition their businesses over to be accessed digitally, otherwise they will die out.

August. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Phil Bronstein, former executive vice president at the San Francisco Chronicle, talks about the future of digital media. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)