Newspapers Drop Paywalls Ahead Of Hurricane Sandy Coverage

Newspapers Drop Paywalls Ahead Of Hurricane Sandy

Two major New York-based newspapers dropped their paywalls on Monday as Hurricane Sandy rolled its way towards the East Coast.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times websites removed paywalls to provide viewers with open-access to content, including comprehensive coverage on Hurricane Sandy. Newsday also removed its paywall.

The Wall Street Journal tweeted on Sunday night that all content on the newspaper's website will be available to all visitors on Monday.

New York Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told Poynter's Julie Moos, "The gateway has been removed from the entire site and all apps. The plan is to keep it that way until the weather emergency is over."

As of Monday morning, Hurricane Sandy coverage pushed all other news stories aside, dominating the morning talk shows on broadcast channels and taking up a significant amount of coverage on cable news programs. The Weather Channel decided to live-stream all of its coverage online, and reported significantly higher web traffic in recent days.

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