Times: No Plans to Further Charge for Web

The New York Times Co.'s decision to charge for online access to Op-Ed and news columnists should not be seen as a first step toward placing even more articles behind a subscription wall, a Times executive said Tuesday. Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president for the Times' digital operations, said the newspaper settled on charging for columnists after a "very robust discussion inside the company." "There were people arguing to put the entire thing in," Nisenholtz said. "There were people arguing to put none of it in. ... I think we've made the decision we've made for the foreseeable future." His remarks at the Syndicate conference on aggregation and syndication technologies came a day after the Times announced plans to charge $49.95 a year for non-print subscribers to read the columns. Access comes free for home delivery subscribers.

Source: Associated Press Newswires

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