Ending TimesSelect lets NYT hang on to its writers for now

Interesting to see the end of NYT's failed paid content experiment earlier this week - Steve Yelvington calls it an end to paid content online (paid news content, sure) and Umair breaks down the details of NYT's strategic error. Just one thing to add - this isn't just about retaining relationships with readers or salvaging revenues. This is about reducing the incentive for NYT's key asset - its writers - to strike out on their own as so many of the best newspaper writers have already done. Earlier in the year Ed Kohler wondered which NYT columnist would be the first to realise that their influence and (therefore) long-term earning power was languishing because of the company's strategic blunder. Possibly that day has been put off a little longer by this latest move.