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Guardian will not introduce a pay wall, says digital director

Posted: 11/08/09 By: Laura Oliver

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The Guardian will not introduce a pay wall to its website, according to comments made by its director of digital content, Emily Bell, on the Liberal Conspiracy blog.

Bell was responding to a post on the site, detailing the Guardian's proposals for a paid-for members' club.

Registered members of Guardian.co.uk have been sent a survey announcing that the site is considering launching a club providing 'extra benefits in return for an annual or monthly fee'.

These benefits might include special offers from partners and exclusive content, the survey said.

Revenue generated from the club would be used to support the Guardian, according to the blog post. But Bell said this survey of registered members' opinion was not a first step towards charging for access online.

"We are not contemplating a pay wall, nor as far as I'm concerned would we ever," Bell reportedly told the site.

"They [pay walls] are a stupid idea in that they restrict audiences for largely replicable content. [Rupert] Murdoch no doubt will find this out - even rudimentary maths suggests he will struggle with a completely free model to meet advertising revenue levels across the NI offerings."

The site is looking at ways to diversify its revenues, but, according to Bell, 'reach and audience engagement' are central to the Guardian's strategy. These would both be damaged irreparably by introducing pay walls, she added in an email response to writer Sunny Hundal.

Bell's comments follow renewed debate over the use of pay walls as a new revenue source for news websites.

Last week Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corp titles would introduce paid-for access by 2010, while Financial Times chief executive John Ridding described plans for a pay-per-article system on the site.

According to Bell, the Guardian removed its last remaining web pay wall from its crossword section six months ago.

In a recent Guardian column she said any move towards paid content and pay walls by news sites works against the 'new real-time information exchanges' taking place online between the audience and news organisations like the Guardian, which actively encourages its staff to use social media as part of their work.

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