The Guardian says, “The web site comes first”
The Guardian will start posting stories to its web site first before they reach the print edition, but “some exclusive stories will be held back for the paper to give the paper a competitive edge at the newsstand.”
Yet the symbolism of making website publication the primary purpose is hugely important. It immediately raises a fascinating question about readers. Are they the 360,000 people who buy the paper or the 13.3 million unique users who see it free on the internet? Has a reader more right to insult a writer on the Comment is Free website when he has paid 70p for the paper or clicked on the website for nothing? It raises too the biggest internet question of them all, which is how to make money - enough money to fund proper journalism - out of that online readership. That last is the question that taxes all managements.
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