From this day forward, I will no longer link to articles published in The New York Times. The reason for this decision has nothing to do with the editorial content of the Times and everything to do with their new program called “Times Select” (link available, but not provided) which required anyone who is not a home delivery subscriber to pay a monthly fee to access certain portions of the Times’ web site, specifically including editorials and Op-Ed pieces. This makes it next to impossible to blog about Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, or any of the other columnists at the Times.
Its bad enough that some newspaper websites require registration to read articles. I don’t think any self-respecting blogger is going to link to articles that require their readers to pay a fee to read them. The question is, what is the Times afraid of ?
Contrast this with the Washington Post. The Post does require you to register to read most articles on their web site, but that’s it. In fact, recently they started adding Technorati trackbacks showing the blogs that are discussing the articles published in the Post.
The Post is, in some sense, embracing the new media. The Old Gray Lady is trying to hide from it. Is it really that hard to figure out who is making the better decision ?
