It has finally happened. After twelve months (or more) of rumors and speculation the New York Times has announced that it will start charging for content in 2011. Here’s the money quote from the press release.

A little over a month ago, The New Yorker ran a little investigative story by David Grann about the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who had been accused of setting fire to his house and killing his three daughters inside in 1991. Now The New York Times has taken up a Texas death sentence beat, and we have little doubt that Grann’s piece has something to do with it.

Yesterday afternoon the New York Times announced it would be cutting 100 newsroom jobs, about 8% total, by the end of the year. The layoff announcement reportedly took the newsroom by surprise it also apparently put the scare into NYT.com readers, who quickly turned the comments section into an online petition of sorts.