Dean Singleton, head of MediaNews Group which owns the Mercury News and several other Bay Area dailies, told the National Conference of Editorial Writers on Thursday that his papers will start charging for news online beginning next year.

“We can’t continue to give everything away for free,” Singleton told the group, which is meeting in Salt Lake City. “When you give it away for free, it has no value. When you begin charging for it, it has some value.”

“I think most companies will begin to take their most valuable content — think sports, think hyper-local news, perhaps entertainment, and put some of that content behind a pay wall,” Singleton said, according to a report by KSL-TV.