Visitors to any of Brunswick News's websites were greated with this landing page.

Brunswick News has put all 19 of its newspapers behind an online pay wall.

Until recently, newspapers such as the Times & Transcript offered news for free on their websites. But when non-subscribers went to the sites Friday, they were asked to sign up.

The company offers a subscription of $19.95 a month for the Times & Transcript, the Telegraph-Journal, the Daily Gleaner, six English weekly papers and 10 French weeklies.

It costs $16.95 a month for those who already have a subscription to the print version.

'It should be free'

Miramichi resident Larissa Wilson checks the site daily for news on her hometown of Moncton. She was upset the Times & Transcript blocked her Friday.

"I don't think it's right that we should have to pay for our local news. I feel it should be free to go online and look up articles and anything you want, really," she said.

But a media expert contends the new business model was inevitable.

St. Thomas University journalism professor Michael Camp said online media needed to put a price tag on their product.

"It just makes business sense and every other kind of sense that newspapers would want people to buy their content if it's delivered electronically. And it's just a question of price from here on," he said.

"Whether there's going to be resistance from the consumer …. I mean, we'd rather not pay for anything. But the freebies we're getting now, it's unsustainable. It's not going to last. You might as well get used to it. I think the thing to be negotiated is the price."

CBC News left messages for Brunswick News, but officials did not respond to requests for a comment.