After Digital First Media CEO John Paton announced Monday that the company would roll out paywalls to “all 75 dailies run by DFM,” the Salt Lake Tribune tweeted to Poynter that its site would remain free:
@Poynter Not at The Salt Lake Tribune, according to editor @terryorme
— Salt Lake Tribune (@sltrib) November 18, 2013
A Digital First Media spokesperson confirmed to Poynter (as did Paton, on Twitter) that the Tribune would stay free. Tribune Editor Terry Orme hasn’t replied to my request for more information, but Managing Editor Lisa Carricaburu explained the exemption in a story on Monday:
We are in a very competitive news market flush with free online access to news. For us to charge for access to sltrib.com and our mobile applications at this time would be to risk losing a significant chunk of audience that easily could find local news somewhere else. We want Utahns coming to sltrib.com.
The Deseret News also serves Salt Lake City. It does not have a paywall.
