Jury out on newspapers charging for online content

As an experienced former newspaper journalist I was intrigued to hear about a potentially momentous development in the industry this week.
Newspapers have started charging for online content in a desperate attempt to halt rapidly declining revenues.
Johnston Press is trialling the venture with six of its 300-plus titles with internet surfers paying £5 for a three-month subscription.
Newspaper sales are falling as readers seek their news on the net instead. Advertising proceeds are also dropping with the combined effects of the credit crunch and advertisers such as motor dealers and estate agents choosing to promote themselves on their own websites.
The long-term prognosis for newspapers is not encouraging with many industry insiders fearing they will all end up as online news services.
The advantages are obvious - there are none of the overheads of printing and items can be published 24 hours a day alongside videos and photographs.
But what about those people who prefer to hold a newspaper in their hands and flick through the pages on a train journey or during a lazy Sunday morning lie-in?
There are also older readers who are not internet-savvy and those in low income households who can't afford a computer.
The hope is that by charging for online content, newspaper publishers will be able to continue printing their titles instead of merely uploading content to the web.
The argument in favour is that local papers will cover council meetings, court hearings and sports matches which are not written about elsewhere so readers will pay to view them on the net. It is also relatively cheap at £20 a year.
On the other hand people have got used to getting their news free online and many will baulk at paying for it.
My own feeling is that unless every newspaper in the land begins charging visitors to their websites it won't take off.
I am also concerned that already overworked and underpaid journalists will have to toil even harder to keep up with the need to update their website 24/7.
The answer maybe is to invest in the online output by employing more journalists and training them in the art of video-making and photography.
Rupert Murdoch has been threatening to charge online readers of the Times and the Sun so it is clearly a significant issue in the industry right now.
It is difficult to gauge which way it will go. Charging for website viewing could be the lifeline newspapers have been searching for. But if people turn their backs on the online content it might also sound their death knell.