The Financial Times has made the first move to drop paid access to its online stories, reports the New York Times.

"Casual readers," loosely defined as sporadic site visitors without paid subscriptions, will be able to view up to 30 articles a month on the FT.com website free of charge. After that, readers will be required to subscribe.

Like The New York Times, which dropped its paid TimesSelect section, the Financial Times hopes freer access to content will increase its online exposure by encouraging linking from blogs and other sites. However, sensing that loyal readers are willing and able to pay for premium content, the paid model was not dropped altogether.

The move will likely increase pressure on the Wall Street Journal, the highest-profile holdout to refuse unpaid online access so far. Many analysts say dropping paid subscriptions to WSJ.com will be among the first moves made by new owner News Corp.

Free access not only brings with it the possibility of higher linking from blogs, but also higher ad income, something newspaper publishers are eager to tap into.