Wall Street Journal to implement new payment system

The Wall Street Journal is set to start charging casual users for access to individual online articles following owner Rupert Murdoch’s plans to expand the pay model.

WSJ‘s managing editor Robert Thomson said the micro-payment system will apply to non-subscribers who want to read individual articles and will give existing subscribers access to premium niche markets, including energy and commodities.

The system will be set up to complement the paper’s existing online subscription model, which charges over one million users $100 or more each year for access to selected editorial content.

Thomson said a pricing structure for the micro-payment system had yet to be decided, but confirmed that users would be charged with “a rightfully high” price tag for access to WSJ articles.

Last week, Murdoch announced plans to start charging users to read News Corp’s UK editorial content following the success of the WSJ‘s pay model (see NewsLine).

The media owner said he would test the subscription model on his strong UK titles, such as The Times and The Sun, and if it proves successful, he could be implement changes by the end of the year.

News Corp reported a 47% decline in operating profits to $755 million (£498 million) for Q1 2009.

Ad revenues for the newspaper group suffered a substantial fall, down 21% in the UK, 33% at the WSJ and 16% in Australia.

Murdoch said the online pay model could offset the fall in print revenues within two years.