Guardian thoughts on paid online content

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall suggested to delgates at FIPP, the World Magazine Congress, that the Guardian is not ruling out charging for more specialist parts of its website in the future. She said that as many publishers rethink their business models, charging for online content that is not easily replicated is one of the solutions that may arise. She mentioned MediaGuardian as an example of a "specialist area" which might be able to charge readers.

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch just announced that his papers are to charge for online content in the next year, and with the recent founding of Journalism Online LLC which aims to facilitate online payment for news, more papers may well follow.

It seems unlikely that the Guardian is going to follow News Corp down the paid content road in the immediate future, however. GMG Head of Communications Chris Wade explained that the Guardian website is currently "not reviewing its strategy in this area." McCall also pointed out that the strong presence of the BBC might make it harder to persuade users to pay for newspaper content as it provides free news on "every aspect - politics, society, education."

Source: Guardian