After much testing, the Bermuda Royal Gazette's national paper has turned on its paywall to allow six free articles for the month.

The company joins Cayman Compass, The New York Times, and the Globe and Mail. While it may feel like news is being taken away from readers, it is important to remember that newspapers have always been paid for. Up until the arrival of the internet, there was a cover price to access the news.

Most seem to forget that news is not free. Professionals are paid to collect stories, and production teams are assembled to coordinate production and mass distribution. While the internet was a place for news, it appeared to be "free." What started out as a novel idea became a technically expensive and legally fraught minefield that is never-ending.

Newspapers had to staff security specialists to keep news accessible, not to mention the large volumes of storage required for daily use and the significant volume of digital space required for story articles, which never seemed important until someone looked at past statements to determine progress. What you may place online might not disappear, but someone actually has to house the comments and references through links and social shares to make things relevant in the online zeitgeist.