David Carr at NYT blogs about the NYT online subscription pricing announcement:

Plans like that usually get met with derision at events like SXSW. It is an article of faith among the digitally inclined that only losers pay for – or try to charge for – content. After all, the Web was built on collaboration, open networks, and a friction-free flow of information. And the Times attempt – however considered, however nuanced – is an offense against that theology.

And that’s what it is: a theology. One need only read many of the bloggers and commentators in the wake of the announcement to see that what the Times is being accused of is not greed, but heresy.

Paying For The Times At SXSW – NYTimes.com

He is making the case for the value of content,  and the value of professional journalism.  All points  not  lost on me at all.  I see the point of those like @steveGillmor who say,  “you bet I’ll pay for that”,  having become almost a  full-fledged supporter of the idea that the iPad has revolutionized print.  But I also want to see some of the “revolution” in their thinking on all digital strategies.  I’ve been impressed with some of the NYT’s efforts in this area over the past few years.  But I agree with Matthew Ingram as well in his blog post at GigaOm: The Biggest Flaw in NYT Pay Plan: It’s Backward-Looking. He sees Carr’s point as well,  but that will only work for people already devoted to the NYTimes (and I myself have a measure of that,  although I would describe  it as respect rather than devotion.  The Times has a number of respected content producers who a lot  of people look forward to reading. But like Ingram,  I want to have a reason to respect the Times going forward for how they leverage the digital media.

The exemption for Twitter and other social media is a sign that the Times understands this on some level at least, but why not go further?

Yes.  I tend to think the NYTimes will move in that direction when they finally see what it’s going to take to survive. 

In order to really take advantage of the revolution that is underway in the content business, it needs to start thinking about what it does in a whole new way, and there are few signs of that happening any time soon.

Ingram is right in that this latest move will not save them.   But I think I might be more confident that it will eventually come,  maybe sooner rather  than later.