PLAINFIELD TODAY: PolitickerNJ: Zero to 1800 overnight!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

PolitickerNJ: Zero to 1800 overnight!

The new PolitickerNJ logo, 12/29/2009.

UPDATE, 12:30 PM: PolitickerNJ seems to have relented -- at least for now -- to a firestorm of critical comment on this morning's move to a for-pay site.

Plainfielders who check the PolitickerNJ website (see here) for the latest political stories will get a rude shock today.

Much of the site's content appears to have been put behind a paywall overnight, and access to the full offerings -- including bloggers such as 'Wally Edge', Bob Torricelli, Carla Katz and the site's archives, will now have to pony up $1,800 for an annual subscription. This even includes the 'Morning News Digest' -- a roundup of links to political stories from Garden State media sources (just like my CLIPS blog -- see here, only statewide).

The Morning Wake Up Call logo.

I was shocked as I was on the site late last evening and there was no indication of the change. When I refreshed a page this AM, the article was 'gone', replaced by a spiffy update of the layout and graphics -- and the paywall.

I can understand the site's owner (Jared Kushner, of the Kushner Kushners, who also owns the New York Observer -- see here) wanting to make it pay its way, but I wonder if they have shot themselves in the foot.

This poor blogger, now living on what is euphemistically referred to as 'a fixed income', makes no money from his efforts. Am I going to shill out $1,800 for access, good as the site is?

Will I be found eating cat food in Aisle 9? I don't think so.

My guess is that the number of pols prepared to shill out this kind of moolah is finite, and growing more so by the day, as political giving goes down, and pay-to-play (which would fund this kind of largesse) is under increasing pressure and scrutiny.

What is an entrepreneur to do?

Will PolitickerNJ go from being a plump and juicy source of Garden State political news to just another media raisin shriveling in the sun?