So much for ditching your paid subscription to WSJ.com.

News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch made clear that readers will have to pay for access to at least part of WSJ.com, throwing cold water on many who expected the site to go free under the new leadership.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Murdoch said:

“We’re sort of dividing it up. Those things that you can get more or less as a commodity on different sites about finance, that will certainly be free at the Wall Street Journal.”

“The really specialised (material) giving the greatest insights, that will still be a subscription service.”

The WSJ.com itself reports even worse news. Forget about free, you may be paying even more to read parts of the newspaper online, it quotes Murdoch as saying.

Until now, nobody could be blamed for thinking that subsciptions would be scrapped. After all, Murdoch and other executives had clearly hinted at it on more than one occasion.

But more expensive? Few saw that coming. After all, who can afford to pay more to read that they are about to lose their job, their house and their 401(k)?

(Photo: Reuters)