The NYT responds to "new media"

Access to the New York Times website has been free of charge for as long as they have had one, a fact which has allowed the paper to increase its readership and influence beyond what could have been achieved with print. No longer: next week they will begin charging for access to that part of their site which is different from all other newspaper sites: the op-ed pages. This is an experimental move -- either it will increase revenue (and broaden the revenue base beyond advertising) if people decide it is really worth $49.95 a year to read their editorial writers, or it will decrease the readership and presence of the paper as readers turn to other sources. My bet is on the second possibility, but the fate of this experiment will determine what happens with many other online news sources as well.