McQuaid Comes to his Senses: Granite Status Back Online

Well, it appears the paywall that removed John DiStaso’s column from UnionLeader.com has come down.  As I’m sure you are all aware, less then 2 months ago the Union Leader announced that they would be pulling their 3 marquee political columns from their website and placing them in their dead tree and electronic editions.  The reaction in New Hampshire and DC circles was near unanimous.  They didn’t like it.

Well, it appears that Joe McQuaid has come to his senses and realized that for John DiStaso to continue to be relevant, his column needs to be availble on the website.

In part, the UL makes a point concerning their decision to pull DiStaso and co from the web and also seemed to be prepared for the negative reaction to their move:

The Union Leader Corporation’s publisher, Joseph McQuaid, believes that “Status” and other premium features cannot be offered free of charge. “That kind of content is valuable to our readers and advertisers, and needs to be paid for,” McQuaid said. Print subscribers and single-copy readers do so when they buy the paper, which is also supported by ads.

That is why McQuaid decided last month that the paper’s influential politics and government columns — “Status,” “State House Dome” by Tom Fahey, and “City Hall” by Scott Brooks — should be published only in the newspaper and in its online “e-edition,” not on UnionLeader.com, a free Web site.

The move was criticized by some political bloggers, but defended by others. Some UnionLeader.com readers complained about having to pay to read the popular columns.

McQuaid said negative reaction was expected, even though UnionLeader.com posts only a small fraction of the newspaper’s content. Instead, the Web site has built its large audience with a unique mix of breaking news, a handful of Union Leader articles, lively comments, selected links to other publications and other New Hampshire-focused information.

While I think that most agree with the premise of needing to pay for the product, the issue comes with the execution of the plan is what fell flat.  From the abrupt announcement to an online edition that was difficult to navigate and read.  Even though, the Granite Status will be free for the next year online, McQuaid has hedged his bets with how long that will last:

But for the next year, UnionLeader.com readers will have free access to “Status,” thanks to a paid sponsor: the Concord law firm of Douglas, Leonard and Garvey. The firm, which came up with the idea, will be the exclusive online sponsor through next December.

…

Does the return of “Granite Status” to UnionLeader.com mean it will never go behind a pay wall, or that the newspaper’s other political columns will return to UnionLeader.com? “We’re not at all sure,” said McQuaid. “We intend to try different methods with different content. What we do know is that the Union Leader produces — and pays to produce — a great deal of local content available nowhere else. We know that has value.”

In short this is a step in the right direction and it appears that the influence of the UL and Granite Status will continue to be a relevant voice in the New Hampshire and national political conversations.