There are some large newspapers that are planning to put up Internet toll booths to test ‘readers’ willingness to pay for information and entertainment that mostly has been given away online for the past 15 years.’ Charging for online news may yet be a thing in the foreseeable future as the recession has diminished profits and online advertising revenues for online news web sites that used to be subsidized by the print franchises of major news agencies.

‘A recent study by the American Press Institute found 58 percent of the responding newspapers are considering online fees. Of that group, 22 percent expect to introduce the fee before the end of the year. The findings drew upon 118 interviews of newspaper executives in the U.S. and Canada.’

Publishers are now faced with the dilemma of finding out how much, if anything, will readers be willing to pay since ‘Internet search engines and digital communication tools such as Twitter and Facebook ensure people still will be able to find and share plenty of free content.’

Running totally free news sites are not exactly profitable for most newspapers even before the economic slump. ‘Web ads were generating only a small fraction of the revenue that print ads do. The disparity has made publishers realize they need more ways to make money on the Internet, but few of them have been able to figure out how.’

The charging for online news will not be taken by publishers in giant steps. They first plan to ‘devise online payment plans that will generate more revenue without alienating too many of their readers.’ Heeding wisdom, ‘some publishers still have no intention to charge for online access because they have concluded online fees are bound to backfire on the newspaper Web sites that adopt them.’

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Via Yahoo! Tech