mediabistro Poll: 65% Say Paywalls Won’t Save Newspapers

The mediabistro blogs collectively asked readers last week, “Do you think paywalls will save newspapers?” After a week, we closed the poll. 1,682 people voted. Here are the results:

° 65% : No, in fact it’ll be the beginning of the end as readers flee to other free sources.

° 20% : No, it’ll generate some revenue but won’t make a meaningful difference.

° 12% : Yes, making readers pay will generate the revenue newspapers need to stay afloat.

Reports BayNewser’s E.B. Boyd, “While the poll may seem unscientific, it was relying on the principle articulated in James Surowiecki‘s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. The principle says that “a diverse collection of independently-deciding individuals is likely to make certain types of decisions and predictions better than individuals or even experts.” (Cribbed from Wikipedia.) Care to elaborate on the results? Sound off in the comments.

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