Thank you, Single X, for taking the time to comment.

I brought up The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal because several previous posts have claimed that they do not charge for online content. That's not true. As I've posted in the past, in response to other posts, if you want full online access to all their content, you have to pay for the e-Edition. I also wrote that they have a lot more content, both free and paid, and that they have much larger staffs, too. I certainly wasn't trying to deceive anyone. I don't think anyone would confuse our papers!

We do run national and state columnists and opinion pieces in our daily opinion page (two pages on Sundays), but if you're not an e-Edition or print subscriber, you don't see those. We run Maureen Dowd frequently, as a matter of fact. And Paul Krugman, George Will, David Broder, Kathleen Parker and more. If you're referring to local commentary, however, you're right, we don't have nearly as much as The New York Times. We do have lots of strong letters to the editor on local topics, Odie Arambula writes his weekly Monday Wash that covers a wide range of topics and we run occasional local columns from local experts on issues of the day. I write editorials as often as I have the opportunity, usually on Sundays. It's a matter of time and staffing. I will try to write more often.

As for "dumbing down" by printing more photos, I disagree. We are a visual community, and those photo pages have some of the highest number of page views and receive numerous positive comments.

You ask why we don't compare ourselves to Texas papers in terms of charging for online content; as I said, I believe you'll be seeing more papers charging in the future. You ask, "why now?" As I wrote, the industry is facing financial difficulties and we must have revenue to continue providing content, online and in print. We're all trying different avenues. An earlier post quoted a story by Wendy Davis from the Daily Online Examiner about the folly of charging, but there are plenty of other stories that say the time is long overdue.

Papers across the country have been increasing the number of unique visitors and page views significantly, but there hasn't been a corresponding increase in advertising. It's true The New York Times backed off its Times Select paid model two years ago, but it has been quietly, successfully charging for its e-Edition for some time now. They are charging for what people really want and can't get anywhere else. That's what we're doing. We provide quality local content that you can't get anywhere else. Yes, there are other Laredo online sources, blogs and other media sites, and some of the stories are the same but we have a great deal of exclusive content. Thousands of people pay 50 cents for the daily edition and $2 for the Sunday edition. We believe people are willing to pay to get that content online, too.

I also disagree with your view that we will appear to be "insular and provincial." I think you'll find quite the contrary in a few months. But I guess we'll see.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I know we don't agree, but I'm glad to hear your views.