TED launches free digital access
Two exciting changes are coming to The Eastern Door this month: elders over 65 will now be able to access free online subscriptions, and for the duration of October, all articles published in the newspaper will appear on our website for free.
The decision to publish each newspaper article online and give out free online subscriptions is happening as part of a month-long digital first pilot project. October will be a trial month for the free web articles, but free subscriptions for elders will be implemented permanently. Right now, only a limited number of articles are published online each week.
“We wanted to try it out to get more of our stories out there,” said editor/publisher Steve Bonspiel. “We want to be able to support digital journalism, and part of that is exploring how to get people to eventually pay to read news that’s vital to the community.”
Bonspiel said he was inspired to launch free online subscription for those over 65 after an elder called to ask for help setting up his account.
“I thought, you know what, we’re not only going to help her - now is a good time to launch free subscriptions for the elders,” he said. “They’re so generous with their time and their knowledge. They tell us their stories, they’ve passed down the language. The least we can do is provide them access to the online version.”
An online subscription to The Eastern Door typically costs $51 a year. It provides access to the most recent copy of the newspaper in addition to archived editions dating back to 2010. The search function allows readers to look up key terms appearing in prior issues, making it easy to dig into historical events.
Community members looking to sign up can do so by calling 450 635-3050.
“We either walk them through it, or we set up their account right away on our end, and then we send them the password by email so they can sign in,” Bonspiel said.
As for the free content, it’s also to have an electronic record of stories covered by TED over the years, as many don’t make it into that type of search engine system due to being part of online subscriptions instead of easily searchable content.
The Eastern Door welcomes feedback about how you’d like to access digital news. Those looking to share their thoughts can email [email protected].
