FT welcomes New York Times behind the paywall

It took less than three hours for the Financial Times PR department to seize on the New York Times's paywall strategy announcement to indulge in a bit of backslapping. The FT's chief executive, John Ridding, who to be fair is entitled to wallow in a bit of reflected glory after beating the market to paywalls, said today: "We welcome the New York Times' new online business model, which is similar to the FT's. We believe in the value of quality journalism and we are pleased that others feel the same way." Well with 121,200 online subscribers, a 22% year-on-year increase, the advertising-supported Monkey can't argue. But we do have a question: who was first with the paywall, the FT or the Wall Street Journal?