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News group launches pay-to-read online service

The owner of a newspaper in Northumberland has started limiting access to its online content in a trial of a new pay-to-read service.

Johnston Press is charging readers of three its publications, including the Northumberland Gazette, £5 for three months’ complete web access, while another three titles will be directing readers back to the printed newspaper after a summary of each story.

The company - which owns more than 300 regional papers across the UK including The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post - is battling falling advertising revenues and wants to assess the impact of charging for content.

It is the first regional publisher in the UK to trial asking readers to pay for its online news.

The papers that will start charging alongside the Northumberland Gazette are the Whitby Gazette in North Yorkshire and the Southern Reporter, based in Selkirk, Scotland.

The Carrick Gazette, Worksop Guardian and Ripley and Heanor News will be directing readers back to the newspaper after a summary of each story.

The company’s Scotsman newspaper already operates a similar system for readers wishing to view “premium content” on its website.

Northumberland Gazette editor Paul Larkin said: “It is exciting for us as journalists to be at the forefront of this venture. All eyes in the media world are on us.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .