Mr Thomson said the Journal was developing its own system to charge small sums to occasional users who might not pay more than $100 a year for a WSJ.com subscription.

Pricing for individual articles and for premium subscriptions had yet to be decided, he said, but would be “rightfully high”.

I suspect that the WSJ will have more success than other news organizations with a micropayment option, but I firmly believe that subscription premium content is the way to go. I think a “day pass” is as micro as it gets.