RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) — Visitors to The Richmond-Times Dispatch website will no longer be able to access unlimited content starting this week.
In fact, the newspaper will implement a soft paywall Tuesday, which will limit the number of articles non-subscribers can read.
Tom Silvestri, the iconic newspaper’s president and publisher, said in an article Sunday that non-subscribers would be able to access 20 articles per 30-day period on the paper’s primary and mobile websites. [LINK: Click here to read more about the change on Times-Dispatch.com]
However, only news and editorial content created by newspaper staffers will count toward the limit. Classified ads, Associated Press wire service reports, obituaries and video content will remain free.
“Giving away content online no longer can be sustained,” Silvestri wrote. “Not if we want to be around for another 160-plus years serving the Richmond region and Virginia with the kind of news reporting that makes a difference and advertising deals that delight.”
The move comes more than a year after Richmond-based Media General sold the Times-Dispatch and most of its other newspapers to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.
Numerous print publication websites, starting with The Wall Street Journal in 1997, have enabled hard and soft paywalls over the years. The Daily Press in Newport News, a Tribune newspaper, began restricting access to its digital properties in April of 2012.
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