FishbowlNY Poll

Back in July, we asked readers how much they would be willing to pay for The New York Times online, after a survey from NYTimes.com revealed that potential charges could be as high as $5 a month.

A whopping 44 percent of our readers responded that they wouldn’t pay anything to read the Times‘ content, which actually is a little bit better than both the national average of people willing to pay for online content (about 50 percent), and the percentage of random people in SoHo willing to open their wallets (63 percent), according to other polls.

But now that Arthur Sulzberger has actual — albeit far off — plans to put up a metered pay wall for the Times in 2011, we wondered if anyone’s tune has changed. So now the question isn’t how much you’re willing to pay, but if you’ll pay at all. Let us know!

Would You Pay to Read The New York Times Online?(trends)

Previously: Would You Pay To Read NYTimes.com?, New York Magazine Poll: Newspapers and New Media Neck and Neck, But No One Willing To Pay, New Yorkers Less Willing To Pay For Content Than Rest of Country

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Over the past few months, we’ve asked you a number of questions relating to paid content. And you have responded overwhelmingly: it will take a lot for you to pay for your content online.

One of our favorite polls was this one, from August, when we asked you if you would pay for NYPost.com. The answer was a resounding no, with over 88 percent of our readers saying no way.

After the jump, your responses to what you would pay for

Read more

As we should already be aware, the news waits for no one. And this year, as we sifted through the contents of our stocking on Christmas day, news of an attempted terrorism attack aboard a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight was breaking.

Now, if you’re like us, television is verboten during big family holidays. But, we did have our Blackberry handy — in order to keep up with the chatter on Twitter obvs — so we learned of the breaking news that way. We know our experience isn’t unique, but we also know there are probably lots of people who were not celebrating the holiday, or sitting in front of a TV or computer screen for some reason, like a job that requires one to do such a thing on a day off.

When the news first broke on Friday afternoon, the information was jumbled. There were reports the alleged bomb was firecrackers. Then news organizations, most likely short-staffed on the holiday, started getting their act together. But through it all, our Twitter stream kept us posted.

So we wondered, how did you get your news of this breaking news event on Christmas day? We’ll be keeping tabs so we know where to turn if there’s a natural disaster on New Years Day.

Where did you get your breaking news on Christmas?(online surveys)

When we asked our readers who influenced the New York media scene the most in 2009, some of you scoffed at our entries.

“Did you seriously put Rachelle Hrsuka on the same media list as…Rupert Murdoch?” asked one News Corp. employee, apparently confident of his boss’ victory.

Alas, it was not to be for the Australian mogul, since one third of FishbowlNY readers voted for Dan Abrams, the MSNBC host turned blog owner and consulting firm developer. In launching Mediaite in July (and to server-crashing traffic), Abrams has assembled a crew of savvy writers (he has very good taste in journalists, if we do say so ourselves), held a launch party five months after his site went live, and plans to launch three other niche blogs in the New Year.

When asked for a comment over his sweeping support from our readers, Abrams responded, “Apparently my mom and her friends enjoy voting in polls more than I knew.” Aw, and modest to boot!

And what of our other poll entrants? Murdoch still held sway with many of our readers, claiming second place with 21 percent of the vote. Arianna Huffington was third with 15 percent, and our much-maligned choice of Guest of a Guest founder Hruska was fourth with 14 percent.

“Other” received seven percent of your votes. Who do you think we missed? Let us know in the comments.

Previously: Who Was New York’s Most Influential Media Person In 2009?, Mediaite Launches To Server-Crashing Traffic

Last week we asked readers, “What print title will you miss the most” after the year full of closures?

The response was indisputable: Gourmet magazine, the award-winning epicurean title published by Condé Nast that was closed along with three other magazines in October, was far and away your number one choice, coming in with 28 percent of your votes.

Coming in second was Domino, also a Condé title, while Portfolio and the recently shuttere demise of Editor & Publisher jostled for points with nine and eight percent of your votes, respectively.

Regional papers like The Washington Blade, The Baltimore Examiner, and The Rocky Mountain News apparently only affected those living where the paper was distributed, since they got the least amount of votes, although ironically in that same pile is Fortune Small Business, which only two percent of FishbowlNY readers were sad to see go.

Previously: Breaking: Condé Shutters Four Magazines: Cookie, Gourmet, Two Bridal Titles, Could E&P Have Been Saved?, Conde Nast Shutters Domino

As much as we’d like to place the blame of the news publishing industry’s downfall entirely on the economy, it has to be said that not every organization made the best choices during the tough year. Between Rupert Murdoch‘s flame-war with Google (and his subsequent move towards Microsoft’s Bing search engine) to Condé Nast‘s closing of the award-winning Gourmet magazine, we want our readers to tell us: what do you think were the biggest blunders in the media this year?

This is all part of our year-end poll series where we’re asking our readers what you think about the biggest people and events of 2009. Stay tuned next week, where we’ll reveal our thinking behind these choices, our own top picks and our poll results.

2009′s Biggest Media Misstep(polling)

Previously: <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/fishbowlny_poll/who_was_new_yorks_most_influential_media_person_in_2009_146385.aspWho Was New York’s Most Influential Media Person in 2009, What Was The Biggest Media Event Of 2009?, What Titles Were You Sad To Lose In 2009?

If you’ve been keeping track, we’re doing our end of the year polls here in the ‘Bowl, and we’re quizzing our readers about the biggest people, events, and products of 2009. Next week we’re going to gather all your data and throw it out the window…no just kidding, we’ll be giving you our choices, but also talking about reader’s picks as well.

So here’s our latest question: who do you think “won” 2009 in New York’s media scene? Was it crafty workhorse Rupert Murdoch? New media entrepreneur Dan Abrams with his Mediaite site? Or Rachelle Hruska for her much ballyhooed Guest of a Guest socialite calender? You tell us.

Who Was New York’s Media Person Of The Year?(poll)

Previously: Poll: What Was The Biggest Media Event of 2009?, What Titles Were You Sad To Lose In 2009?

Perhaps it’s because of the economy, but 2009 just wasn’t the year for huge media events.

Starting last Christmas, when many publishers started forgoing their annual Christmas parties as a way to save money, the theme of the big events this year seemed to be frugality. Still, despite the lack of open bars, there were plenty of events that got the media types out mingling and excited, if only for a night (or a day in the case of the conferences we seem to love so much).

So we ask you, FishbowlNY readers, what was the biggest media blowout of the year? Feel free to add your own suggestions to our list. And, just like our poll about magazine and newspaper closures earlier this week, we’ll be taking your answers into consideration next week, when we feature some year-end lists picked by the FishbowlNY editors.

What was the biggest media event of the year?(polls)

Previously: What Titles Were You Sad To Lose In 2009?

It hasn’t been the easiest year for print journalism. Crain’s New York Business reported Friday that 367 magazines have been axed in the last 12 months, with 64 going online-only, according to preliminary numbers from online database Mediafinder.com. (In October, Mediafinder said 383 had already closed up shop during the first nine months for the year).

According to The Business Insider, by July over 105 newspapers received similar treatment. Many more have had to scale back or go to an almost entirely digital format to survive.

In early October, Condé Nast took a particularly brutal hit with the shuttering of four titles: Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride, and Elegant Bride. And those closures came months after Condé folded Domino and Portfolio earlier in the year.

Still, it could have been worse…The New York Times is still around, despite some pessimistic predictions, right? So we here at FishbowlNY would like to hear from our readers: which closing affected you the most? Feel free to add your own to our list, and remember, we’re sticking to print publications (RIP Jossip.com) that disappeared in 2009, not including any that went online-only. And pass it along to your friends — we’ll be taking your answers into consideration next week, when we feature some year-end lists handpicked by the FishbowlNY editors. What can we say, it’s that time of year.

What print title will you miss the most?(trends)

Read More: 367 magazines shuttered in 2009 –Crain’s

Previously: Breaking: Condé Shutters Four Magazines: Cookie, Gourmet, Two Bridal Titles, Report: More Than 100 Magazines Shuttered In Last Three Months

Yesterday, we got our hands on Esquire‘s augmented reality issue and fired up our Web cam for a test run.

It took us a few minutes to download and install the software from Esquire‘s Web site, and after it loaded it promptly took over our computer screen. Our cam took a little while to recognize the special augmented reality squares, and we were unsure whether we had to keep holding the magazine in front of the cam during the videos, but the extra content from Robert Downey Jr. and Gillian Jacobs was a nice treat. But, it seemed like Esquire didn’t want us to ever leave their augmented reality; when we were ready to quit, the program froze, forcing us to restart our computer to escape.

Although we were curious enough to seek out the issue — hey, it’s our job — we’re wondering how you feel about this special issue. Is it a gimmick or a valuable marketing tool? Will you be picking up the latest issue of Esquire — or the latest InStyle, which is also trying out augmented reality?

And, if you happen to get one of these magazines, we’d love to hear about your experiences with the new technology. Did your computer crash, too? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Will You Be Picking Up An Augmented Reality Issue This Month?(survey)