THE loyalty of readers accustomed to getting their news online free is about to be tested, as Australia's largest newspaper groups prepare to charge for access to their websites.

Fairfax Media is considering two levels of access, one free and the other incurring a charge, as newspapers move to protect declining revenues.

Last week, News Limited chief executive Rupert Murdoch announced that sites featuring the news content of his stable of papers would no longer be free.

The plan to erect pay-walls around their online sites comes as newspaper companies confront a decline in the advertising revenue that has financed print production.

Between them, Fairfax - which owns The Sunday Age - and News Ltd own all but one of Australia's metropolitan dailies, most of the suburban and regional papers, and websites that in total claim more than 10 million browsers a month.