Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site

Two years after making parts of its Web site -- including its columnists -- available only to paying customers, the New York Times is abandoning its subscription-based TimesSelect service at midnight tonight.

All parts of the site, as well the Times archives from 1851-1922 and from 1987 to the present, will be available at no cost. (BC users have access to the Times via various databases, including scanned images of every article from 1851 to 2004 via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.)

The Wall Street Journal, the only major paper still charging for access to most of its Web site, is discussing whether to continue that practice, says the Times, noting that Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. is taking over the Journal, has mentioned the possibility of making the online version of the paper free.

• Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site, New York Times
• 'All the News That's Fit to Print' for Free, Forbes
• Times Ends Fee on TimesSelect Content, Washington Post