Desperate to stay alive, beleaguered newspaper executives first tried to “monetize” their “content.”

Now they’re desperately trying to “monetize” their “journalists.” And although the Washington Post recently stumbled badly in offering its pay-to-play sponsored “salons” to access seekers, the fact that the paper’s own ombudsman called the offer “an ethical lapse of monumental proportions” hasn’t deterred other journalistic powerhouses in their pell-mell rush to revenue. The latest case in point: The New York Times.

As the Nieman Lab reported recently, “School’s in session at The New York Times this fall, and the professors include some big bylines on campus: Nicholas Kristof, Gail Collins, and Eric Asimov.” And here’s what’s on offer from the newspaper-of-record’s Knowledge Network adult-education program, operated in partnership with local universities: one hundred week-long, largely online courses for Times readers willing to pay between $125 and $185 in exchange for getting schooled by the likes of Kristof and Collins. The courses also include a “live, interactive Webcast,” three written lessons, and a message board where students can interact with their instructors – although, only a few of the courses actually include the participation of Times writers.

This year marks the first time that Times columnists have participated in the three-year-old project – which, as Nieman Lab noted, “could be a precursor to the membership model the Times is considering in its search for new revenue streams on the web.”

As Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported, Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and general manager of The New York Times Media Group, “is deciding between two charging systems – a ‘metered’ and a ‘membership’ model,” and a decision is expected imminently.

“The metered model, as the Financial Times uses, gives access without a charge for a certain number of page views. The “membership model” includes a collection of different privileges not available to the non-paying reader.

“We have events – called Times Talks – where journalists interview important people. If you come in on the website, you might get special access to discussions with a journalist. There might be special offers for other products and services,” he says.

The decision comes as the global recession forces newspaper owners to step up efforts to increase profits from their digital operations. While a decision on how to charge will be made shortly, Heekin-Canedy said formal plans will only be announced when the technology is in place.

The membership model was hawked last month in a Times reader survey describing how paid “members” of the Times Exclusive Journalism Club – oops, I mean “NYT Gold” – might purchase special access: “TimesInsider: Ever wanted to talk cooking with Mark Bittman or to discuss books with Janet Maslin? How about a tour of the Times headquarters, including the newsroom?” Although aspects of these Members Only plans have been trotted out in the past – it was less than two years ago that the NYT stopped offering its TimesSelect premium online service, which charged for access to blogs and columnists. Heekin-Canedy said: “The climate seems to have changed. We charged roughly $50 a year for Times Select and had about 200,000 paying subscribers. The reason we discontinued [it] is that we came to the conclusion that search engine optimisation had changed and it would give us the ability to generate more advertising revenue if we did not charge for content.”

What’s next in the endless quest for newspaper revenue enhancement – wine clubs? Oops – there I go again!

RORY O’CONNOR is co-author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio.