Herald mulls charging for online news

By Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff

The Boston Herald may charge for access to its website as early as next year, according to the paper's website.

At a breakfast meeting this morning at the Boston Harbor Hotel, the paper's owner and publisher Pat Purcell said that a paid subscription for his paper's online content is likely. But he also acknowledged that it would be difficult for his paper and others to charge if their competition doesn't, according to the Herald.

"If the Globe doesn't do it, then it would be hard for us to do it,'' Purcell told the Herald. Through an assistant, Purcell declined to comment.

The Herald had charged for access to columnists and writers in 2001 but then dropped the program.

As advertisers continue to migrate to the Internet and as newspapers' daily circulation continues to fall, many news outlets are considering how to best charge for access to their websites.

Last week during an employee meeting with New York Times Co. chief executive Janet L.Robinson, questions arose about whether the Globe would start charging for its portal, Boston.com. Robinson said the paper is looking for new revenue streams and is considering adding a pay wall for access to some areas of the site.

At least one local media observer believes that most papers will charge for some kind of content in the near future.

"The question is, who goes first?" said Lou Ureneck, chairman of Boston University's school of journalism. "It would be very difficult for the Boston Herald to put its content behind a pay wall if The Boston Globe doesn't. We will start to see newspapers stepping forward very soon. It's inevitable. It's the only way to sustain these (news) organizations."