The Chico Enterprise Record is considering charging people to read some of the stories on its website. This is to mitigate readers from accessing their stories only through the internet at no charge.
If and when it goes into effect, regular newspaper subscribers would be allowed to access all the paper's website content at no cost.
Some, but not all, of the paper's stories would be blocked what's called a pay wall. Chico ER publisher Gregg McConnell said "consumers recognize there's a value in quality, particularly local journalism that has an impact on their lives."
The Chico ER and its parent company MediaNews Group say the internet will play a large role in the future of all forms of journalism. A fee for the online use hasn't yet been decided. The earliest this new policy would begin would be early next year.
