An item in the Wall Street Journal Europe newspaper this morning said the company has rolled out a new Web site offering free access to all its editorials and opinion columns. Core news content remains a subscription service.
The move marks the first significant change in Dow Jones & Co.'s business model by Murdoch, who has previously made statements indicating that the Wall Street Journal Online might ultimately move to an ad-supported model from a premium content model.
Such a move would be significant, because the Wall Street Journal Online is deemed one of the few successful premium online content publishing examples in the newspaper industry. It also comes at a time when the New York Times appears to be backing away from its Times Select premium content model.