Threat Level Predicted Death of New York Times Firewall

The New York Times is preparing to "bring down that wall" that hides its old stories and its OP-ED columnists, according to the New York Post. The TimesSelect service, which hid the paper's popular columnists to all but the 200,000 or so online subsribers, will be dropped soon, according to the piece.

THREAT LEVEL saw this coming. Saving The New York Times archives so only paying LexisNexis users could get at them was a retrograde decision in an age where search engines have deep indexes. And how are largely hidden columinists going to maintain their power when its easier for someone to read a blogger than it is to find a Maureen Dowd piece.

That's why in December, THREAT LEVEL submitted this prediction for inclusion in Wired News's predictions for 2007:

NYT Goes Free

The New York Times opens its archives from behind the paid firewall, realizing it's more lucrative to be the internet's paper of record than charging readers for individual stories. Thankfully, Thomas Friedman's clichés and mixed metaphors remain behind the pay firewall for at least two weeks.

I've not heard if the Times will actually keep Friedman behind the firewall, so as to spare us from further sloppy war cheerleading and non-sensical declarations that the world is flat, but one can dream or even start an online petition.

Photo: daecks