We have reported earlier about the proliferation of free, open-source, online medical journals. When it comes to the spread of information, the American Medical Association (AMA), however, is moving in the opposite direction.
It has come to our attention that the AMA, has quietly announced that it will make the contents of its AMNews online edition (website) available for AMA members only. Bylined as the "The Newspaper for America's Physicians", the AMNews was the last AMA publication with current content available online for free (for your information, JAMA, which publishes research that is mostly funded by the U.S. taxpayer, has never been available to the general public.)
It reminds me of the this year's Homestar Runner April Fool's Day subscription plan, called Pay Plus!, which was pitched as "Same content! New annual fees! Just Pennies per Pixel!"
The Medgadget call to action got the attention of the AMNews editor, who responded by saying, essentially, that membership has its privileges. However, as GruntDoc suggests, it's actions like this that guarantee AMA membership will become more irrelevant as time goes on.
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