Online news charges set by Johnston Press

Consumers who read the websites of a selection of Johnston Press publications will have to pay to view the online news articles from next week.

The regional newspaper group has revealed that it will be introducing paywalls on some of its online titles as a trial, with the paid-for format potentially set to be used more widely if the project is successful.

Readers of the Worksop Guardian, the Ripley & Heanor News, the Whitby Gazette and the Northumberland Gazette in England, as well as Scotland's Carrick Gazette and Southern Reporter, will have to pay for website news .

The Hold The Front Page website reports that an internal memo from Johnston Press - which also publishes the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post - said: "Customers are used to paying for content in paper and we are simply transferring this thinking online."

Earlier this year, it was announced that News Corporation publications such as the Sunday Times and the Sun will start charging readers to access their online news content in 2010.

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