In a paradigm shift that will either help make newspapers more profitable or prove their dwindling relevance, 23 newspapers owned by MediaNews Group followed the lead of The Wall Street Journal and New York Times by shaking down would-be online freeloaders for a monthly fee. The program includes MediaNews’s smaller papers, including the Daily Democrat (Woodland, Calif.), Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Mass.) and Daily Times (Farmington, NM).

PaidContent reports even print subscribers to the papers will have to pay — $1.99 monthly or $19.99 annually — for online access, while others have a $5.99 monthly option or $59.99 annually. Readers will get five free pages a month before they have to subscribe.

What news sources do you pay for, and which ones that you get for free would you pay for?

MediaNews Group Adds Paywalls To 23 More Newspapers [PaidContent]

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