智媒时代报业付费和免费内容的共生关系探索及启示

Exploring the Symbiotic Relationship Between Paid and Free Content in the Newspaper Industry in the Era of Smart Media and Implications

智媒时代探索发展新闻付费业务是报媒集团提升新闻质量和运营水平的有益方向,本文认为厘清和平衡免费内容和付费内容的关系是发展付费业务过程中的关键。文章将该问题置于生物学的“共生”理论框架内进行讨论。首先从职责功能、内容形态、竞合关系三个层面阐释了新闻付费、免费内容的共生逻辑;其次以付费墙发展历程为例,将其梳理概括为付费与免费内容从“偏利型”共生向“互惠型”共生关系的转变过程,并从中概括出反向演化、螺旋演化模式;最后侧重于“互惠型共生”发展方向,从技术、受众、政策等提出我国报业发展付费业务的建议。

In the era of smart media,exploring the development of paid news business is a useful direction for newspaper media groups to improve the quality of news and operation level,and this paper argues that clarifying and balancing the relationship between free content and paid content is the key to the development of paid business.This paper puts this issue into the framework of the biological theory of“symbiosis”.Firstly,the symbiotic logic of paid news and free content is explained from the three levels of responsibility function,content form,and competition relationship.Secondly,taking the development history of paywalls as an example,we summarize the transformation process of the symbiotic relationship between paid and free content from commensalism to mutualism,and generalize the reverse evolution and spiral evolution modes from it.Finally,focusing on the development direction of mutualism,suggestions for the development of paid services in China’s newspaper industry are put forward from the perspectives of technology,audience,and policy.