The New York Times reports that starting in early 2011 it will "charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take."

It adds that:

Visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper's print edition will receive full access to the site.

Update at 2 p.m. ET. As we reported in the last hour, NYU journalism professor and media critic Jay Rosen says the Times is making a "risky move" because if charging for some content sends some people to other media outlets, it might lose some of its reach and influence. Here's a clip from his conversation with NPR's Madeleine Brand (as we said earlier, much more will be aired on today's All Things Considered). The connection was via Skype, which is why Rosen sounds a bit like he's in a tunnel:

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Update at 1 p.m. ET. NYU journalism professor and media critic/blogger/tweeter Jay Rosen just told NPR's Madeleine Brand that this "is a gamble by the New York Times and I don't think they know if it's going to work."

"It's impossible to know what Web users are going to do," he added. He thinks the Times is betting that its content is unique enough and authoritative enough to make users willing to pay at least a little.

But, Rosen said, for the Times "this is a very risky move with the very heart and soul of the newspaper ... it's ability to affect and influence the public conversation." If the Times' reach shrinks because people turn elsewhere for free news, he cautions, it could regret the decision.

Much more from Madeleine's conversation with Rosen is due on today's edition of All Things Considered. Click here to find an NPR station near you. And later, the parts of the interview that were broadcast will be posted online here.

Rosen tweets here.

Update at 12:15 p.m. ET. We wonder whether:

Update at 9:35 a.m. ET: Our friends at On the Media have done many stories about the news media's struggle to figure out ways to make money from the Web.