October 20, 2009 Special Issue

Can the iPhone save journalism?

Locked out Journal staff breaking plenty of ground

by Elias Makos

Elias Makos

After employees at Le Journal de Montréal were locked out of their jobs by paper owner Quebecor about nine months ago, they wasted no time in embracing the Internet and launched RueFrontenac.com a mere four days later.

The website was a clever strategic move in many ways. Not only did it provide a powerful outlet for the 253 locked-out workers, it was also in stark contrast to the direction of Le Journal, which was never enthusiastic about offering its content on the web.

“I think we’re gaining new readers who aren’t used to reading papers that much and who are more online,” said Jean-François Codère, who heads Rue Frontenac’s website and iPhone efforts while continuing to write his weekly posts on technology.

For RueFrontenac.com, there were two logical ways to continue to expand the website. First, the cavalier journalists launched an “édition papier” in September, a 50-page print edition that focused on the Montreal Canadiens’ upcoming hockey season and brought in a substantial amount of advertising revenue. Thanks to that success, Rue Frontenac is already planning its next paper editions.

Second, Rue Frontenac is also branching out to the mobile web, having just submitted an iPhone application to Apple for approval. While many news organizations have launched their own iPhone apps, Rue Frontenac will be doing something most haven’t dared to do: charge for it.

“We’re not a business, so we can afford to take risks that other real businesses fear trying,” said Codère. “We’ll try and sell our iPhone app,” which will sell for a one-time fee of $1.99 and will feature Rue Frontenac’s website content in a format tailored to the iPhone experience.

Some newspapers are going even further. Beginning Oct. 24, The Wall Street Journal will charge US$2 a week for access to articles through its iPhone and BlackBerry applications, making it the first major publication to test the subscription model on mobile devices. If their model is a success, it will be another good indication that people will pay for content they care about, even if the target market of The Wall Street Journal is a very particular one—business types who view the paper as a guide to making more money.

There is definitely evidence that iPhone users will indeed pay for some types of content. Last month, Major League Baseball indicated it made over $4 million this year selling its $9.99 MLB At Bat app on the iPhone.

As it stands, Rue Frontenac doesn’t view the web or its iPhone app as a serious revenue stream, and it would be awfully hard to support 253 employees with a modest $2 iPhone app.
“I don’t think that right now the Quebec market could support an online only news site,” said Codère. “But in the long run, you never know.”

Elias Makos can be seen regularly on CTV Montreal’s news at noon as the station’s Technology & Trends columnist. His tech blog is at eliasmakos.com