Paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content via a paid subscription. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of decline in paid print readership and advertising revenue. In academics, research papers are often subject to a paywall and are available via academic libraries that subscribe.
Paywall
An open API (application programming interface) makes the online news site "a platform for data and information that [the newspaper company] can generate value from in other ways." Opening their API makes a newspaper's data available to outside sources, allowing developers and other services to make use of a paper's content for a fee. "The Guardian", in keeping with its "belief in an open internet", has been experimenting with the use of API. "The Guardian" has created an "open platform" which works on a three level system:While an open API is regarded as a gamble just like a paywall, journalist Matthew Ingram ethically notes that the use of an open API aims at "profiting from the open exchange of information and other aspects of an online-media world, while the [paywall] is an attempt to create the kind of artificial information scarcity that newspapers used to enjoy." An open API keeps news content free to the public while the newspaper makes a profit from the quality and usefulness of its data to other businesses. The open API strategy can be commended because it takes the pressure off of the news room to continually investigate and explore new means of revenue. Instead, the open API strategy relies on the interest and ideas of those outside the newsroom, to whom the site's content and data are attractive.