OT: New Free Press site

[SLAYER]

Noscript seems to be blocking most of the main page now. All I can see are the top news links.

Right, with the new layout everything is generated using scripts.

You will need to allow scripts on the main pages, and then once you open all of the articles you want to read, disable all scripts and reload the pages. Then you can read all of the articles w/o login.

 

[R3DDRAG0N]

not to take away from this thread, but using your Ipad has anyone experienced the issue with the TSN website App where if you click an article link, a crave tv page loads? You have to click off the ad link before going to the sports page....then once you click on a specific article the crave tv ad loads again? I usually have to go through 3-4 iterations of this before I can actually get to reading an article..is this something I can turn off? Am I the only one experiencing this??

 

[BigZ65]

-----
Raise the level of debate? Is he for real?

They should start in their newsroom.

 

[bodybreak]

Tried the even newer website. Wasn't asked to log in at all, but scrolling down, I never came to the "end" of news. Rather, the same stories kept reappearing over and over. Not sure if every single update on each article was considered as published separately, or what script was causing that to happen.

 

[Gnova]

I don't want local news to be behind a paywall but am sad to not be able to access it.
I would have and did endure the ad clicks and what not in ordet to support it.

Local news through a browser seems to be basically limited to CBC Manitoba now.

I have access to the WFP every day with multiple copies scattered around at work but I am not interested in paper anymore. That is probably my failing more than print media.

 

[Jets4Life]

Tried the even newer website. Wasn't asked to log in at all, but scrolling down, I never came to the "end" of news. Rather, the same stories kept reappearing over and over. Not sure if every single update on each article was considered as published separately, or what script was causing that to happen.

The Winnipeg Free Press now has arguably the worst layout, in the history of the internet. It's beyond horrible, and I now either use CBC Manitoba or even the Winnipeg Sun to get my news.

 

[SLAYER]

The Winnipeg Free Press now has arguably the worst layout, in the history of the internet. It's beyond horrible, and I now either use CBC Manitoba or even the Winnipeg Sun to get my news.

 

[Channelcat]

The Winnipeg Free Press now has arguably the worst layout, in the history of the internet. It's beyond horrible, and I now either use CBC Manitoba or even the Winnipeg Sun to get my news.

I very much like the classic layout of the Sun. I may be in the minority, but I think the content is good too.

 

[Brian Cadle Fan]

I logged on yesterday and a pop-up informed me this was day one of my 30 day free trial.

I looked around at the new layout, didn't read any articles, logged off and removed the site from my bookmarks.

I barely liked reading it for free. I won't pay for the "pleasure".

 

[gbill2004*]

I have also stopped reading the Winnipeg Free Press website. I now read CBC, CTV, Twitter, and CJOB for my news.

 

[Jets4Life]

I have also stopped reading the Winnipeg Free Press website. I now read CBC, CTV, Twitter, and CJOB for my news.

Well, if you happen to want inside information on the Jets, HFBoards, and twitter are far superior than the WFP. I will never buy a newspaper from them again, due to their arrogance. They really have lost touch with the people of Winnipeg.

 

[gbill2004*]

Well, if you happen to want inside information on the Jets, HFBoards, and twitter are far superior than the WFP. I will never buy a newspaper from them again, due to their arrogance. They really have lost touch with the people of Winnipeg.

The only things I'm really missing now with no longer reading the Free Press are the opinion stuff like Gary Lawless, Bartley Kives and Mrs. Lonleyheart. I'm probably smarter now for not reading Lawless anymore! lol

I really think the Free Press is doing long term damage and their strategy here is very short sighted. In the long term people will realize that they don't need the Free Press. I fully expect they will eventually realize that the paywall doesn't work and it will be removed, but by that time, they will have lost a large portion of their readership.

 

[ps241]

I have not studied the business side of newsprint lately but its interesting the free press is going the pay wall direction? I know I won't partake but I have been out of the local news loop for a while.

Very interesting times for people in the news gathering and delivery business across all platforms.

 

[scelaton]

I have not studied the business side of newsprint lately but its interesting the free press is going the pay wall direction? I know I won't partake but I have been out of the local news loop for a while.
Very interesting times for people in the news gathering and delivery business across all platforms.

It's been extremely tough in the newspaper industry for a decade, with newsprint revenues falling and people turning to free on-line alternatives. If the FP can't make a profit on-line it will not survive.
I have been subscribing to the FP forever. I consider it my civic duty to support local jounalism and, frankly, just shake my head at the notion that the FP could be called "arrogant" in its attempts to stay viable. What is truly arrogant is to assume you are entitled to consume the hard work of professional journalists without paying for it. If a business can't make a profit, it dies and people lose jobs-- lesson #1 from Jets 1.0.

 

[Jets4Life]

It's been extremely tough in the newspaper industry for a decade, with newsprint revenues falling and people turning to free on-line alternatives. If the FP can't make a profit on-line it will not survive.
I have been subscribing to the FP forever. I consider it my civic duty to support local jounalism and, frankly, just shake my head at the notion that the FP could be called "arrogant" in its attempts to stay viable. What is truly arrogant is to assume you are entitled to consume the hard work of professional journalists without paying for it. If a business can't make a profit, it dies and people lose jobs-- lesson #1 from Jets 1.0.

I disagree.

The WFP seems to have no idea about good customer relations. They should be being more interactive with their subscribers and potential subscribers, and asking for their input. The editor has already been condescending to the readers on a number of occasions. This will just alienate the subscriber base. When the WFP changed to the new layout, they did not ask for input, and despite it being universally unpopular, continue to stick with it.

You consider it your "civic duty" to prop up a private business? That's funny. Do you also only go to Tim Hortons for coffee, since they are a Canadian based chain? Comparing it to the Jets 1.0 is ridiculous. The two businesses had nothing to do with each other, and their respective situations had nothing to do with each other.

It will be sad to see, if the WFP closes up, but it will be their own fault for not staying competitive in the news market, when technological advances make it harder to survive. The Free Press let go most of their young IT people, that could have saved the newspaper, all in the name of seniority. It reminds me more of the Auto Industry in Michigan.

It seems the Free Press union is too powerful for it's own good.

 

[ps241]

It's been extremely tough in the newspaper industry for a decade, with newsprint revenues falling and people turning to free on-line alternatives. If the FP can't make a profit on-line it will not survive.
I have been subscribing to the FP forever. I consider it my civic duty to support local jounalism and, frankly, just shake my head at the notion that the FP could be called "arrogant" in its attempts to stay viable. What is truly arrogant is to assume you are entitled to consume the hard work of professional journalists without paying for it. If a business can't make a profit, it dies and people lose jobs-- lesson #1 from Jets 1.0.

Challenging times no doubt.

I am going through a very similar challenge in my professional life. My primary job is to grow my business profitably and the tried and true way I have done this for 20 years has dried up and is no longer commercially viable from a risk reward perspective. I am having more fun trying to figure this out than I have had for the past 5 years.

Free press is going to have to figure it out though because the new generation of people growing up in a world get their content for free from from artists, Movie's at home, and TV and they have no moral issue with file sharing. They do not want to direct pay for those hard working journalists either so it is the leaders job to figure out how to monetize it.

The question becomes is the free press blockbuster or Cineplex.

if I was one of those hard working journalist I would be looking for other options moving forward to split off my talents and deliver them to the public in a profitable fashion just in case. They might need to become their own brand but they have a pretty big head start in that regard.

We live in fascinating times and every business leader needs to adapt or die.

 

[BigZ65]

It's been extremely tough in the newspaper industry for a decade, with newsprint revenues falling and people turning to free on-line alternatives. If the FP can't make a profit on-line it will not survive.
I have been subscribing to the FP forever. I consider it my civic duty to support local jounalism and, frankly, just shake my head at the notion that the FP could be called "arrogant" in its attempts to stay viable. What is truly arrogant is to assume you are entitled to consume the hard work of professional journalists without paying for it. If a business can't make a profit, it dies and people lose jobs-- lesson #1 from Jets 1.0.

It's hard not to expect to consume the work of professional journalists for free when you can at the click of button from literally dozens of sources, even in a moderate sized city like Winnipeg. What the Free Press is doing is akin to tossing a single sandbag at a rising river, an internet 1.0 solution in the internet 2.0 age. They need to find ways to draw more visitors and monetize those visits. Instead they have made their content (including wire stories) available to an exclusive group of a few thousand like yourself who are willing to pay to view it. Paywalls have worked for two papers, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The Winnipeg Free Press is about 12 notches down the newspaper hierarchy from those guys and is simply nothing special against the "free" sources like CTV, CBC, Global, CJOB, Chris D, Winnipeg Sun.

 

[scelaton]

I disagree.
You consider it your "civic duty" to prop up a private business? That's funny. Do you also only go to Tim Hortons for coffee, since they are a Canadian based chain? Comparing it to the Jets 1.0 is ridiculous. The two businesses had nothing to do with each other, and their respective situations had nothing to do with each other.

Do you understand what civic duty is? It refers to the responsibilities of a citizen relating to their town or city. If I wanted to exercise my civic duty in relation to a coffee shop, I would support a local cafe, not Tim Hortons.
But the WFP is much more than a local coffee shop. It's the oldest newspaper in Western Canada, almost as old as Manitoba. It has also been widely recognized nationally for its quality, in spheres more important than sports.This is but one example of many:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/FP-reporter-wins-national-award-304793901.html
People take the notion of a 'free press' lightly, but it is one of the foundations of our democratic society (and has helped contribute to the cyber-freedom of communication that now, ironically, threatens its existence.) Compared to the FP, the Jets 1.0 weren't nearly as important to Winnipeg's history, but they were still an important business that contributed to our civic happiness and pride. I gave the Save the Jets (1.0) Campaign a fair chunk of change when they were drowning, also out of a sense of civic duty. In fact, the Jets and WFP are intertwined in many, many ways beyond the reach of this post.
No one is asking you to support the WFP; but you should be aware of its importance and try to avoid trashing it when it denies giving you free access, in an attempt to maintain viability.
[/QUOTE]

 

[scelaton]

Free press is going to have to figure it out though because the new generation of people growing up in a world get their content for free from from artists, Movie's at home, and TV direct pay for those hard working journalists either so it is the leaders job to figure out how to monetize it.
I was one of those hard working journalist I would be looking for other options moving forward to split off my talents and deliver them to the public in a profitable fashion just in case. ...
We live in fascinating times and every business leader needs to adapt or die.

It's hard not to expect to consume the work of professional journalists for free when you can at the click of button from literally dozens of sources, even in a moderate sized city like Winnipeg. What the Free Press is doing is akin to tossing a single sandbag at a rising river, an internet 1.0 solution in the internet 2.0 age. They need to find ways to draw more visitors and monetize those visits. Instead they have made their content (including wire stories) available to an exclusive group of a few thousand like yourself who are willing to pay to view it. Paywalls have worked for two papers, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The Winnipeg Free Press is about 12 notches down the newspaper hierarchy from those guys and is simply nothing special against the "free" sources like CTV, CBC, Global, CJOB, Chris D, Winnipeg Sun.

I do agree with both of you that the FP is in tough, will have to learn to adapt or die, and may not have chosen a winning strategy. I don't think anyone knows what the right strategy is these days for media companies. They are actually doing better than many local papers in NA, but are in the midst of a cataclysmic change that has already brought down many companies at the top of the hierarchy.

 

[Jets4Life]

But the WFP is much more than a local coffee shop. It's the oldest newspaper in Western Canada, almost as old as Manitoba. It has also been widely recognized nationally for its quality, in spheres more important than sports.This is but one example of many:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/FP-reporter-wins-national-award-304793901.html
People take the notion of a 'free press' lightly, but it is one of the foundations of our democratic society (and has helped contribute to the cyber-freedom of communication that now, ironically, threatens its existence.) Compared to the FP, the Jets 1.0 weren't nearly as important to Winnipeg's history, but they were still an important business that contributed to our civic happiness and pride. I gave the Save the Jets (1.0) Campaign a fair chunk of change when they were drowning, also out of a sense of civic duty. In fact, the Jets and WFP are intertwined in many, many ways beyond the reach of this post.
No one is asking you to support the WFP; but you should be aware of its importance and try to avoid trashing it when it denies giving you free access, in an attempt to maintain viability.

The Free Press and the Jets may be one and the same, in your opinion. However, they are night and day. The Jets should not be brought into the conversation, as it is off-topic, and has nothing to do with the economic feasibility of a newspaper. The idea that the Free press is more important to the history of Winnipeg, than the Jets, is ridiculous.

You're placing far too much sentimental value in a local newspaper. With the technology available today, the paper is becoming obsolete, and unless they pick up their game, I will not shed a tear, if and when they go under. They have neglected their customer base for too long. They are the authors of their own demise, and I certainly will not be spending any money on their business.

The only relevance between the Jets and the WFP, is True North is a first class organization, and cares greatly about it's fan base, and go out of their way to make their viewing experience a pleasant one. If the Free Press was smart, they would copy True North's business model.

 

[TS Quint]

I do agree with both of you that the FP is in tough, will have to learn to adapt or die, and may not have chosen a winning strategy. They are actually doing better than many local papers in NA, but are in the midst of a cataclysmic change that has already brought down many companies at the top of the hierarchy.

You mean to say Winnipeg is behind the times? I can get all my local info from CBC, Global, CTV and other news sources. Pay for editorials? ridiculous. Like I'm going to pay for a Lawless article. I don't even hate him like so many but I'm not paying for it or for a papers bias political stance.

 

[TS Quint]

not to take away from this thread, but using your Ipad has anyone experienced the issue with the TSN website App where if you click an article link, a crave tv page loads? You have to click off the ad link before going to the sports page....then once you click on a specific article the crave tv ad loads again? I usually have to go through 3-4 iterations of this before I can actually get to reading an article..is this something I can turn off? Am I the only one experiencing this??

Did they ever [mess up] that site for the last two updates. They marginally improved on the second update when they saw their views hit the tank but still
,what a piece of junk.

 

[Jets4Life]

You mean to say Winnipeg is behind the times? I can get all my local info from CBC, Global, CTV and other news sources. Pay for editorials? ridiculous. Like I'm going to pay for a Lawless article. I don't even hate him like so many but I'm not paying for it or for a papers bias political stance.

^This.

To be completely honest. If I had to subscribe to post on HFBoards, I would seriously consider it (hope I'm not giving them any ideas ). The information contained on this forum about the Jets, is far better than anything printed in the WFP.

 

[scelaton]

The idea that the Free press is more important to the history of Winnipeg, than the Jets, is ridiculous.

This is my last post on this because we are quite OT, but...young man, you need to start reading the front section of the newspaper in the worst way.

The WFP has been around for 143 years, has been the link to our community through 2 world wars, the Winniprg strike of 1919, major floods and countless other events far more important than hockey. It has been a virtual lifeline for hundreds of thousand of people in an isolated prairie town, when precious other forms of communication existed.
The Jets are still a modest blip in Winnipeg's historical timeline.

HFJets is a fantasy world where a small number of us seek diversion; it is not the real world. I guarantee you, no thoughtful, educated Winnipegger, including Mark Chipman, would take the bolded seriously.

Here, do some reading

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/history/history.html

 

[KingBogo]

You mean to say Winnipeg is behind the times? I can get all my local info from CBC, Global, CTV and other news sources. Pay for editorials? ridiculous. Like I'm going to pay for a Lawless article. I don't even hate him like so many but I'm not paying for it or for a papers bias political stance.

IMO the Free Press doesn't offer anything unique enough or of high enough quality to get away with charging people to view it online. They offer nothing that can't easily be obtained for free elsewhere with little or no effort.