New York Times Co.-Owned Telegram.com to Remove Pay Wall

By: E&P Staff After a four year run, most of the content in the online version of the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass., will be free beginning July 1.

Since 2002, readers have had to pay for access to most stories, columns, obituaries, and features. The paper charged for access in a couple of ways: $69 for a year, $5.98 per month or $.60 per day. Subscribers of the print edition received free access.

?Returning Telegram.com to a free Web site allows us to expand our reach to the largest possible audience,? Bruce Gaultney, publisher of the Telegram & Gazette, said in a statement.

According to the paper, which is owned by The New York Times Co., Telegram.com had more than 1 million unique visitors this year and receives about 550,000 visits per month.

The Web site carries Times Select columnists Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman, Bob Herbert, and Paul Krugman. Currently visitors who click on the link for these columnists are directed to the New York Times Select page, where readers have to pay for access.