Reports have confirmed that starting next year, the New York Times will be making access to its online content paid, a development which has come as a major effort by a prominent newspaper to find effective ways to try and survive on an online platform, with rapidly declining sales of print subscriptions and advertising.

On Wednesday, New York Times Co. shared that it would employ a "metered model" for its web content, which would require readers to pay a fee for access to content, after they have read a certain number of articles in a month free of cost.

The online articles, however, would continue to remain free to access for customers of the newspaper's print edition.

"This process of rethinking our business model has also been driven by our desire to achieve additional revenue diversity that will make us less susceptible to the inevitable economic cycles", Chief Executive Janet Robinson said.

The newspaper's latest move has managed to strike at the heart of a highly debated question within the publishing sector - whether or not should publishers continue to offer their valuable news and features online for free.

Not many details have been shared about the decision by the company, but with what little details have been provided about the model, it looks like the one which is employed by the Financial Times website.