From Business Week:

"..soon-to-be owner Rupert Murdoch seems willing to sacrifice that revenue in return for the possibility of earning many millions more from online advertising. In an Aug. 8 earnings call for News Corp. (NWS), which plans to acquire Journal publisher Dow Jones (DJ) for $5.6 billion, Murdoch said both companies are debating making WSJ.com free, though there are no concrete plans yet. “I think it would be an expensive thing to do in the short-term. In the long-term it may be a wonderful thing to do,” said Murdoch.

The dominant strategy among online publications is to attract as many millions of visitors as possible with free content, then leverage that mass audience to run ad campaigns for big brands. It’s easy to see why newspapers have chosen this route with all the advertising dollars flowing online.

The Late Blog