View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
July 5, 2010updated 23 Aug 2022 7:23pm

Guardian’s combative response to the Times and Sunday Times paywall move

By Dominic wireposts

The Guardian has continued its combative response to The Times and Sunday Times paywall move by publishing a tongue in cheek online welcome letter to Times readers locked out by the paywall move.

John Crace writes “Here at the Guardian we can offer everything you ever wanted from the Times – and more – for nothing”.

On Friday The Guardian announced that it had signed up the legal blogger Tim Kevan, who resigned from The Times website in protest at the paywall move.

Kevan said in a press release statement calculated to wind up News International: “Not only does the Guardian have what I consider to be the most vibrant and innovative online presence of any of the national newspapers but also what is now the very best law section, freely available to all. I’m particularly impressed by the way they have introduced the idea of partnering with bloggers such as myself, allowing me to retain my own website and identity. It’s a paradigm-shift away from the old-school need for ownership and exclusivity and is definitely the way forward for traditional media to harness the power and energy of the web’s creative forces.”

It looks like we are set to return to the old needle and sabre-rattling that we enjoyed during the old quality newspaper price war of the late Nineties and early Naughties.

It can only be a matter of time before The Times rises to the bait and hits back directly at The Guardian in some form – perhaps by bursting into Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger’s office and calling him a “fuckwit” as James Murdoch did to Independent editor Simon Kelner during a dust-up over election coverage in April.

The free versus paywall debate in the quality market is a price war by other means and it is interesting to see that The Telegraph and Independent, ruthless competitors when they want to be, are so far refusing to make hay at The Times’ expense.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

It seems likely that they are reluctant to pan a paywall move which, if successful, they could well adopt themselves.

Topics in this article : , ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network