The Chicago Tribune has become one of the latest major newspapers in the US to announce plans to introduce a paywall on its online site, behind which it will place “premium” content including in-depth reports and analysis, columnists and reviews.

At first glance, this may seem little different to action taken by various other news titles that have sought to maintain or increase revenue at a time when print subscriptions are diminishing. However, the Chicago Tribune is attempting to breathe new life into the process by offering its readers the opportunity to read selected articles from Forbes and The Economist as part of its new premium package. The announcement of a partnership between these three titles certainly seems to prove that Bill Adee (vice president for digital development and operations at the Chicago Tribune) and his team understand the need to offer something more than access to their usual articles and reviews in order to justify charging readers for content that was previously free to view online.