Chicago Sun-Times drops paywall

In brief

The Chicago Sun-Times has dropped its paywall, making all its digital content free to access.

In lieu of a paywall, the paper is launching a donation-based digital membership program that will ask readers to donate what they can, in the same way that The Guardian introduced for its online content.

To access content, users simply need to register an email address with the website.

The Sun-Times became a non-profit newsroom in January after it became a subsidiary of Chicago Public Media, the media owner of Chicago’s National Public Radio affiliate WBEZ.

The paper’s circulation is second-largest in Chicago, after the Chicago Tribune; historically, it’s best known writer is the late film critic Roger Ebert.