Axel Springer officials, the publishing company of Europe's most popular newspaper, Bild tabloid, as well as other newspapers in Germany and Eastern Europe, believe that publishers should be paid for the contents available on the Internet, while other media players argue that online news should be free.

"There is a meta-philosophy of gratuity. We should get rid of this philosophy," said Christoph Keese, Axel Springer's head of public relations and online strategies.

"A highly industrialized world can not operate on the basis of gossip. It takes real journalism and that costs" also said Keese.