New York Times Frees Its Content

Two years after dropping its columnists behind a subscription wall, the New York Times tore down the barrier to a valuable source of traffic: search engines.

It isn’t as dramatic as the fall of the Berlin Wall years ago, but readers of the Times should be thrilled with the decision to put an end to Times Select. The subscription program allowed people to access the Times’ archives, and to read pieces by its op-ed columnists.

The Times learned the lesson that AOL discovered: openness and ad revenue beat walled gardens and subscription fees. Richard P