“Virtually no-one under 30 has so much as held a newspaper, let along read one”.
Sir Bob Jones
(CMR) The Cayman Compass will start charging readers to access and read their online content via a new paywall (subscription-based) option set to launch later this month. Readers will be able to pay $9.99 per month or $99.00 for the year.
In an e-letter from the Editor-in-Chief, Kevin Morales, he explains a dire financial situation and shares that for more than half a century the Compass has been providing news for the community. Admitting that “the journalism industry has changed” and they need the public's support to continue to operate the letter noted:
“Starting in September, frequent visitors to our website will encounter a paywall, asking them to subscribe to our service. This new subscription option will enable our newsroom to stay independent and well-staffed, to cover the news and stories that shape and inform our community.”
Morales also noted that “for decades” their web content has been offered free of charge. The changes in local media have been apparent for a number of years now with the closure of Cayman 27 last year. The Compass has also had a number of growing pains including asking for donations in March and laying off numerous employees later that month. Some of the layoffs including employees that were recruited from Cayman 27.
Some remaining Compass staff has shared with others that the constant stress placed on them to produce content with a smaller staff complement is taking a toll on their health.
With the government's decision to mandate job advertising on their own government ran portal it became even more clear that the Compass would be facing further tough times. A large part of their revenue has been the employment section of the newspaper. Radio Cayman's head of news, April Cummings asked the Premier in June if he would be prepared to bail out the Compass should they fail. However, he made it clear that was not the government's role and that media needed to be more resilient and creative to continue to pay the bills.
The Compass has offered subscription-based access to their print newspaper for years now that included being able to view the classified and job ads as they would appear in the printed layout. That access was $132.00 per annum but now appears to no longer be available. During COVID-19 the Compass decided to reduce printing their newspaper to once per week and indicated a shift to focus more on digital content. However, this paywall system implies that the printed paper is on the verge of disappearing entirely.
Keen industry observers would not be surprised at this development as the history of print media around the world has been in a dismal state. In July 2020 it was revealed that Wyoming will became the first U.S. state to not publish any newspaper on Monday despite having “six daily” newspapers.
Over the last few years, an increasing number of online media publishers are switching from advertising-funded journalism and are charging for their content. Paywalls are systems that prevent online users from accessing specific website content unless the user pays a fee. They can restrict access to a specific site, story or publication and there are varying levels of restriction.
The Compass has offered subscription-based access to their print newspaper that included viewing the classified and job ads as they would appear in the printed layout.
The Cayman Observer was more recently opened and operated by Dr. Tomlinson but was taken over by Ralph Lewis of the Caymanian Times. It remains in print several times per week. In June 2017 Cayman Marl Road launched as a completely digital newspaper. There are other smaller publications that have an online presence as well.
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