To pay or not to pay... a question of quality

An advert in Times of Malta asked readers to “join in the swing to Rediffusion” as it promoted the latest wireless gadget. For two-and-a-half pennies a day, cable radio aficionados were offered the option to change channels through a new wireless two-button device that did not require electricity. This was May 13, 1936, and the advert promising the “best possible wireless entertainment” brought innovation to the primary semi-immediate news source on the island – cable radio. Fast-forward 77 years: from a setting where families sat around the radio box to hear the news to a more personalised service where news is available at the touch of a finger and the way people get news has changed radically. Radio, newspapers, magazines and television have been joined by the internet in an evolved landscape that sees news available everywhere on smartphones and tablet devices. It is within this scenario that timesofmalta.com will from to­morrow offer its readers premium content against payment, a first for any Maltese news portal. The move has ruffled feathers, raised question marks and triggered debate. Should news content delivered by media organisations over the internet remain free? It...