How to Read the New York Times for Free

The New York Times is locking down access to free news.

As of March 28, 2011 the New York Times is enacting a "digital paywall" which means that users who want to read articles on the site will need to subscribe to the New York Times through either a paper subscription or one of the digital subscriptions offered. The New York Times has, however, kept available 20 articles per user per month for free and free access to articles through referring links from social media and search engines. So if you need more than 20 articles a month to satisfy your news habit, you can gain free access through one of the means the New York Times allows: social media or search.

Instructions

1. Browse the New York Times website to find an article that you want to read. The front page and the lead page for each of the sections will continue to be freely available. Click on the title of an article you want to read.

2. Copy the text of the title; highlight the text then press "Ctrl+C" on your keyboard. Browse to a search engine then press "Ctrl+V" on your keyboard to paste the article title into the search bar. Press "Enter." Click on the link to the New York Times article in the search results. Google is limited to 5 article referrals per day, but other search engines like Bing and Yahoo! do not have referral limits.

3. Find links to New York Times articles via Twitter, Digg or other social media resources by searching for "New York Times" from the main page then finding the link to the article you want to read. Twitter also features a system knows as "hashtags" where a hash (#) is paired with word(s) that are then searchable. The New York Times is often hashtagged: "#NYTimesNews" without the quotation marks. Search for that string on Twitter or through a search engine to find references.

4. Download the smartphone or tablet application from the New York Times and you will still be able to read all of the "Top News" for each day free of charge. The headlines for each day are included in the "Top News" section, so the articles associated with those leading stories will be free through the application, but articles deeper in won't be free on your mobile device.

References

• The Next Web; The New York Times paywall launches 28 March, still free to read via search and social media; Martin Bryant; Thursday March 17, 2011
• Business Insider; How To Read The New York Times Online For Free; Nicholas Carlson and Henry Blodget; March 17, 2011
• San Francisco Gate; NY Times #NYTimesNews Paywall Slammed On Twitter: Social Media Idiocy; Zennie Abraham; March 17 2011
• Money Talk News; 4 Ways to Keep Reading The New York Times for Free; By Michael Koretzky; March 23, 2011

Resources

• The New York Times
• Twitter: #NYTimesNews
• Digg: New York Times