Q. When should newspapers tear down their own paywalls? A. When a hurricane arrives.
Three New York-based papers - the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Newsday - opened up their websites as the storm advanced, as did the Boston Globe and the Baltimore Sun.
The NY Times told readers it was providing "free unlimited access" to coverage of the effects of hurricane Sandy. And a spokeswoman for the paper, Eileen Murphy, confirmed to Poynter that "the gateway has been removed from the entire site and all apps", adding: "The plan is to keep it that way until the weather emergency is over."
Looking at the NY Times's site, there is certainly a great deal of storm coverage with terrific graphics.
There are also some 350 pictures sent in by readers. Many show empty streets in Manhattan, cars crushed by trees and people braving the rain and floods in apparent high good humour.
The reader's picture I've chosen here, showing a notice on a snowboarding store, also illustrates the humorous response to the oncoming storm.
Sources: Poynter/New York Times
- Paywalls
- Hurricane Sandy
- New York Times
- Wall Street Journal
- Boston Globe
- New York
- United States
- Boston