Simon Moore, managing director, Eclipse Colour Print
The reason Rupert Murdoch’s doing it is obviously to benefit the newspapers that he operates, but I wonder how paid-for content would be able to combat free sites such as BBC News? Only time will tell whether it does generate any more print. I would think that, if anything, it’s got to be a positive influence, but even so, I think there is probably a limited lifespan to newspapers in their current format. I think if you look at the next generation or the one after, they are certainly less likely to pick up a newspaper. Certainly, in years to come, more people will turn to the internet as their first port of call.

Tony Burke, assistant general secretary, Unite
I think a lot of newspapers will be watching very closely at how this development works. The vast majority of newspapers’ websites are totally free, although there are some who charge for premium content. But, obviously, as advertising and sales revenues fall across Murdoch’s titles, he is trying to recoup money wherever he can. It’ll be interesting to see if people, having got so used to free content, would be prepared to pay. My bet is that they won’t. We’ve got a different generation that has got used to using the web to get their news and information and that generation won’t be prepared to pay for content unless it is premium content.

Ian Collinson, managing director Parker and Collinson
I’m not sure if Mr Murdoch is really saying anything new here and sadly, any benefit for printed media will be minimal. Online content is rarely completely free. Newspapers may well put stories up on their sites with open access, but it’s not always the full story and it’s never the whole publication. To read a full quality daily paper online has always required a subscription. The same is true of free software. Generally speaking, on the internet you can often get something for nothing, a taster, but hardly ever a whole helping.

Nigel Cliffe, chief executive, Cliffe Associates
This is not the end of free online content. The News Corp strategy doesn’t stand a chance of changing the movement towards all online content being paid for in general terms, but it does raise the question of authority and relevancy. Where content, of any sort, provides niche value of high relevancy then there will be the opportunity to charge for it – but in micro payments. So, as for the impact on printed matter, it boils again down to relevancy. If publishers can find bespoke ways to develop printed pieces to support online articles then yes, printed matter will increase, but only in largely digital applications. Printed matter on a one-to-many basis will continue to decline.