Rupert Murdoch has had a lot to say lately about the internet, and how a modern media mogul might milk it for corporate gain.

Paywalls appear to be a key to the Sun King’s strategic thinking, restrictions around content to squeeze micro-payments from an eager readership. We already have one right here at News Corp, Murdoch enthuses.

“We have it already with the Wall Street Journal. We have a wall, but it’s not right to the ceiling. You can get, usually, the first paragraph from any story — but if you’re not a paying subscriber to WSJ.com all you get is a paragraph and a subscription form.”

We hate to break this to you Rupert, but the WSJ doesn’t so much have a paywall as a permeable membrane. You can read anything you like on the site, in full and for free.

This is how you do it:

  • Go to the site’s home page (here it is).
  • Look for a story with one of the little key symbols next to the headlines. This denotes paywalled content.
  • Click on that headline. When the locked story page opens, cut and paste the headline of the story, in full, into the search bar of Google. Google will pull that story up to the top of its search page.
  • Click on that headline link and there, hey presto, is the story in full for free.

We point this out just by way of showing what a tricky thing these internets can be. Sorry Rupe, but there it is.