Bay Citizen.org says that more than half the stories now available for free at the Chronicle’s SFGate.com would be cordoned off by a new pay wall under consideration by the paper’s owner, Hearst Corp.

Bay Citizen quoted Chronicle employees, speaking anonymously, who said Hearst is leaning toward a “hard” pay wall rather than one like the New York Times implemented this week that lets readers click on a certain number of articles before access is cut off.

“Employees said they were told the pay wall could be rolled out by the end of this month (April), although the plan is understood to be in flux,” Bay Citizen reported.

Short, daily news and breaking stories would likely remain free of charge under the new plan, but the fee to read other content would cost $9.95 a month.