By Chris McCrudden and Katie Swan, Technology,

Last week the London Evening Standard became a free publication. Meanwhile, Speed client The Economist, introduced a pay wall on its website for articles more than 90 days old. So, as Wired editor Chris Anderson preaches the gospel of ‘free’ while The Times and Sunday Times plan for micro-payments, how are we going to pay to consume media content in future?

Perhaps the answer is a two-tier system. On one hand mass market media brands will chase circulation, hoping that eyeballs alone will help attract advertisers when the upturn comes. On the other, media serving more specialist audiences will charge for content, hoping that the quality of information they provide makes them more attractive than free – and by inference less authoritative – alternatives.

Despite the fervour of its adherents, the free model is still arguably based on hope rather than experience. A free Standard will lift visibility in a newspaper market awash with other freesheets, but giving the paper away hasn’t helped the Manchester Evening News, which went free in 2007, turn around its profits. Contrast this with The Financial Times, which has always rationed access to free content, and saw profits rise by 13 per cent last year. Now what was it a certain famous politician said about not being able to buck the market?

So after 182 years, the Evening Standard is now free. But will this have an effect on the content of the newspaper?

Roy Greenslade, media columnist for the Standard, does not believe that “the Standard will be any the worse in its content for being given away on London’s streets”. You can access news content for free online, so why pay for it in print?  We are entering a digital age in which free is seen as the norm, competition is rife and business models must adapt.  Dropping or killing the cover price is risky move and there are no guarantees it will succeed; The London Paper, for example, has recently closed. Print media will have to rely on reputation first and foremost to encourage both readers and advertisers.

On the other hand John Ridding, chief executive of The Financial Times, believes that “newspapers can and should find ways to charge for online content if they are to safeguard the future of quality journalism”. But are readers willing to pay for content when there are alternative free options? Paid-for publications will need to provide unique content that can’t be found elsewhere. The likelihood is that things will continue to change dramatically over the next year – and technology will be at the heart of it.