The Imminent Paywall coming to the Oshkosh Northwestern

And the Fondy Reporter, Wausau Herald, GB Press-Gazette and every other Gannett newspaper in Wisconsin:

Those in range of Gannett's community newspapers will be sad to learn the publisher will soon erect a paywall around the websites of its 80 small-town titles, while keeping USA Today free online.

"We will begin to restrict some access to non-subscribers," Bob Dickey, Gannett's president of community publishing told Forbes' Jeff Bercovici on Wednesday. "The model is similar to the metered system adopted by The New York Times a year ago, in which online readers are able to view a limited number of pages for free each month." The company expects to gain 25 percent boost more revenue -- or, $100 million per year -- thanks to the new payment system, but might expect to see a drop in profits at first though, if The Times is any model.

Haven't seen any related announcement from any of the local Gannett papers, but this seems to follow a trend started by the above mentioned NY Times, and later adopted by the Milwaukee JS, which will presumably become standard industry practice in the near future.

I really don't have anything to add to this and don't feel all that strongly about the matter, one way or another. Just thought I'd kick off another round local media hyperventilating.