News giants explore ways to charge web reader

NEW YORK, USA: News giants are all out scouting for ways to charge their online readers, thanks to the constantly deteriorating economic situation.

New York Times Co has said that it is studying ways to charge for access to its popular website at a time when no clear path has emerged for newspaper publishers to switch primarily to the Internet in a sustainable way.

The publishing giant confirmed the plan while announcing its financial results which showed a higher quarterly profit on cost cuts, beating forecasts.

But, advertising revenue of the company fell 30 per cent, making a recovery for U.S. newspaper publishers still still a far cry.

Following suit, many other publishers also are reportedly brainstorming ways to charge for their online content, especially as most of them have reported relatively weak results this week and seen their shares sinking to historic lows as the recession and the trend of readers abandoning newspapers for the website suck away precious ad revenue.

The companies like Financial Times and Wall Street Journal who are specializing in financial journalism do not find much hurdles in this likely migration as finance related content has an instant value that investors and punters are well prepared to pay for.

FT has always been keeping much of its specialized content behind paid firewalls. “I confidently predict that, within 12 months, almost all news organizations will be charging for content,”

Brendan Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, was quoted as saying by media reports. New York Times posted second-quarter net income of $39 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with $21.1 million, or 15 cents a share, in the quarter a year ago.