The Post is reporting that the TimesSelect content at NYT.com is going to be opened up to the public. Now everyone will have access to the op-ed, archives, and other exclusive content. NYT is tearing down the paywall. I think this is huge, and I have been advocating for this change for awhile to anyone who will listen.

I wish I could have been in that boardroom when this decision was made. I wonder what argument swayed the board. I can think of plenty of reasons why this content should be open to all, but I wonder what was the deciding factor. Some possibilities:

• Money. Perhaps there was an economic argument that there was more money to be made in advertising by opening the content up to the public.
• Influence. The NYT Op-Ed board was diluting its influence by only speaking to a small subset of wealthy liberals that subscribe to the paper or to TimesSelect. Plus, behind the TimesSelect paywall, no one can link to the op-ed pieces, so they could not bubble up into memes as easily. Opening up TimesSelect will certainly increase the paper’s influence.
• Access to Knowledge. NYT is one of those companies with a social mission in addition to making a profit. It’s a double-bottom line. Opening up the content increases the public’s access to knowledge. Releasing this content strengthens the intangible bottom line of social good.
• Google Juice. I’m sure the paywall was hurting Google’s SEO. Since Google (and other search engines) is usually the biggest source of traffic for any given site, this could have been a persuasive argument.

Well, I’m really interested in the reasons, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad the TimesSelect content will now be free.