We’re shocked, shocked to find that WSJ.com might not go completely free after all. I say that fully with tongue in cheek because I’ve never believed the Journal would go completely free or that a final decision had been made. Rupert Murdoch has made a lot of sweeping statements, to be true, but he also has qualified many of them all along. A lot of people who think that’s what he should do—particularly those who see the site as some kind of standalone unconnected to anything else within Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS)—prefer the former. 

The latest round comes from comments Murdoch made at a bureau chiefs’ gathering last week. The NY Observer reports via three sources that Murdoch “has scaled back his ambition to make WSJ.com entirely free. ‘He said he originally thought making it free would bring in the biggest audience, but that after studying it it’s not as simple as he thought,’ said one person present. Mr. Murdoch said that they would continue to study it, and there’s a strong possibility that a hybrid model would be created perhaps similar to what’s being used now (The Journal’s news content is currently behind a firewall; its opinion page was opened for free last week).”

As we pointed out last fall, despite some of his more declarative comments, Murdoch has left wiggle room all along. And even when he seemed to be certain, “sources close to News Corp.” suggested the main site could go free but certain sections would stay behind a wall. The odds that all of WSJ.com will go the way of the editorial page are a lot smaller than fans of the notion would like to think.

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