by: Rachel Swan | EastBay Express

Two years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle, bleeding $50 million a year in losses, grudgingly erected its first paywall. But it did so in a way that seemed a little more wishy-washy than some of its peers in the news business. Whereas The New York Times would emerge a year later with a $15 monthly subscriber fee, the Chron set up a system on its website in which certain stories could only be read by subscribers of its newspaper or iPad edition or by paying customers.