PR agencies and brands needing to see what has been written about them on national newspaper web sites face a quieter couple of months given the new News International paywall and The Financial Times (FT) digital archive.

Content from News International titles has been withdrawn from media monitoring agencies and aggregator services and won’t be available until the launch of the Newspaper Licensing Authority’s (NLA) eClips platform, expected sometime in September.

NLA channel partners such as Cision, Durrants and Precise will provide their clients with News International content via the eClips platform as part of their monitoring services.

Meanwhile, the FT has pulled out of the NLA scheme and has launched its own digital searchable archive. In future media monitoring agencies and their customers will need to purchase a licence direct from the FT once their current NLA licence expires.

Is this the thin end of the wedge for the demise of the ‘pay once and you’re protected’ approach to media copyright management?

“The FT has been developing a direct licensing philosophy for some time. [It] wants a direct customer relationship, so that whilst the channel (aggregator or press clipping agency) may charge for its service, only the FT can charge for its content,” said David Pugh, CEO of the NLA.

“Collective licensing is valuable for publishers and clients alike – but the FT feels that it has a unique position as a global brand with niche content and expertise – and their view is that this is best managed by them directly,” he added.