Reuters announced Tuesday a plan to offer free content — including pictures, video and text — to online publishers en masse for the first time in the news agency’s 160-year history.
The content will be made available through Reuters Media Express on a metered basis, allowing publishers to use an allotted portion of the newswire’s content per month, according to a press release from Reuters. The decision stems from a desire to reach more Web readers with the agency’s journalism. From the release:
As the media industry navigates the unprecedented shift to digital publishing and online news consumption, Reuters is committed to innovating and challenging conventional models in order to help publishers and expose more readers to its award-winning news content.
According to the release, readers will now be empowered to search through Reuters’ content and view it without registering with the newswire.
Reuters’ adoption of a metered content system is reminiscent of several major news organizations — including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Gannett — which have in recent years have adopted metered paywalls.
