Maybe paying for news online is a good thing

The Columbia Journalism Review tells me that the Wall Street Journal has sur­passed USA Today in cir­cu­la­tion num­bers, mak­ing it the most widely cir­cu­lated news­pa­per in the country.

Note too that the Journal has seen growth in its cir­cu­la­tion while also charg­ing for its online con­tent. Newsday will also start up a pay sys­tem this week, mak­ing it the sec­ond paper among the top 25 in the coun­try to charge for Web content.

Normally, I’d be against charg­ing for con­tent online, on prin­ci­ple, but I have to admit that the last para­graph of the CJR post makes a lot of sense:

“It can’t help you in a deep reces­sion to give your prod­uct away free online while charg­ing good money for it (much less rais­ing the price) in print.”