NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The New York Times will begin charging for articles on its website next year, marking a major effort by the newspaper to find new revenue and combat the declines in print circulation and advertising that have badly hurt the publishing industry.

New York Times Co NYT.N, which owns the newspaper, said the plan would be built around a "metered model," charging readers for access after they have viewed a certain number of articles in a month. New York Times home delivery print subscribers would continue to have free access to NYTimes.com.

“This process of rethinking our business model has also been driven by our desire to achieve additional revenue diversity that will make us less susceptible to the inevitable economic cycles,” Chief Executive Janet Robinson said in a statement.

The announcement confirms reports in recent days that such a move was under consideration at the New York Times. (Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)