First The New York Times announced this week that it would stop charging for access to parts of its website, then yesterday Rupert Murdoch talked about how he was leaning toward making the Wall Street Journal's website free as well. Subscription-based online news is on life support.

The NYT and WSJ were two of the only newspapers turning a profit on subscriptions to their websites (perhaps the Financial Times makes money as well?). If Murdoch decides to make the site free, then the subscription-models will be a thing of the past for news sites. That means readers get better access to mainstream media reports and online advertising gets a big boost. It also means that both the NYT and the WSJ have a chance of maintaining their dominant position in newsgathering even after the newspaper is a thing of the past.