‘New York Times,’ ‘Wall Street Journal’ Take Down Paywalls for Hurricane Sandy

The New York Times suspended the paywall on its site and apps Sunday afternoon, as people turn to online news outlets to get more information about Hurricane Sandy. The storm is scheduled to make landfall in New Jersey Monday night.

The paywall was taken down at 3 p.m. on Sunday, a NYT spokesperson confirmed to Mashable. Visitors will be able to access all content on the site without restriction â€" not just storm coverage â€" “until the weather emergency is over,” the spokesperson said.

Typically, non-subscribers are limited to 10 free articles per month, although there are some ways around that restriction. The paywall is lifted on a case-by-case basis, a Times spokesperson told Nieman Journalism Lab, when it decided to keep coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death behind the wall. The newspaper did temporarily lift barriers to Hurricane Irene coverage last August, however.

In addition to The Times, The Wall Street Journal is also planning to make its website “open to all visitors” on Monday, Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the WSJ Digital Network, tweeted.

[via Poynter]

Image courtesy of Flickr, NASA