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"In a move sure to please opponents of news site paywalls, The McClatchy Company has come out in favor of keeping an ad-supported online model.\r\n\r\nSpeaking at the Local Online Advertising Conference, McClatchy Chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt said that he did not support a paywall model for McClatchy's papers' online editions. In addition, he predicts that online advertising revenues will continue to grow as newspapers continue to shift towards a digital-centric business model.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;The percent of internet-only ad dollars will grow because of self-serve vehicles and classifieds. We don\u2019t need it to be 50/50 for us to have the same cash flow. Digital has a higher profit margin because of the lower costs from not having to print and distribute it compared to print,&amp;quot; Pruitt said.\r\n\r\nIn light of recent news from the New York Times and other newspapers about paywalling their online editions, this is a welcome announcement. However, given Newsday's experience with paywalls, it's looking like it could be a savvy business decision, too. While McClatchy isn't the largest newspaper company in the US, they do have a strong following with their local papers (including my own hometown paper, The Sacramento Bee).\r\n\r\nInterestingly, though, Pruitt's main point in his speech was about innovation as a means of survival. Pruitt said, &amp;quot;We don\u2019t need to be the strongest to survive, we just need to be able to adapt, and that\u2019s something we\u2019ve proven we can do.&amp;quot; Perhaps by bucking this industry trend, they'll ensure their survival.\r\n\r\nDISCLOSURE: The author went to school with Pruitt's daughter."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/us/2010/02/09/mcclatchy-ceo-happy-stay-adsupported/>