Hearst Charging For Some Web Content

Regional publisher Hearst is reportedly set to introduce paid-for content on the websites of its newspaper titles.

A memo reproduced in the Wall Street Journal reveals that the company is planning to keep at least a portion of its online content reserved for paying customers only.

In his statement to staff, Hearst’s newspapers president Steven Swartz conceded that recent internal research found that “our cost base is significantly out of line with the revenue available in our business today”.

And in searching for a new business model he listed several revenue-generating areas under consideration, including charges for online articles.

“Exactly how much paid content to hold back from our free sites will be a judgment call made daily by our management, whose mission should be to run the best free Web sites in our markets without compromising our ability to get a fair price from consumers for the expensive, unique reporting and writing that we produce each day.”

He also asserted that newspapers should be looking to deliver news to iPhones in a similar way to e-readers like the Kindle and therefore impose a subscription charge.

Several Hearst titles have been making the news recently due to financial difficulties, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and theHouston Chronicle.