• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 21, 2009

While he would not explicitly say what the New York Times might be planning in that ongoing debate, digital chief Martin Nisenholtz at least alluded to consumer research suggesting it could be something less than free.

“We can see in the consumer research we’ve done that people are realizing that they might have to pay for this stuff at some time,” Nisenholtz told OMMA attendees.

Later, he posed a question to Ben Edwards, publisher of the Economist.com, that he had read somewhere that The Economist might be thinking of moving in the opposite direction â€" giving its content away for free.

“We’re exploring all options, as you are, Martin,” Edwards responded.