You had to know this day was coming, given the budget issues at the BBC.

Anyway, here's a note from Steve Hermann, editor of the BBC News website, as posted to The Editors blog:

Richard Sambrook, the BBC’s Director of Global News, outlined the reasons for this move here – and, as he explained, these are basically about funding the BBC’s public service journalism for our international online audience.

In editorial terms the journalists will not be involved in any of the dealing with advertisers or with the scheduling of the ads. There’s an "editorial guardian" - paid for by BBC Worldwide, our commercial partners - who will help assess possible ad campaigns and give guidance on what might produce a conflict of interests, clash with our own editorial values or in any way compromise our journalism. If he sees any campaign, or individual ad, as potentially unsuitable then it won’t run. Journalists, guided by him, will have the ability to prevent ads appearing, for example, on sensitive or distressing stories.

Frankly, it's a very small price to pay to support an outstanding global news resource. The Beeb is a site I would willingly subscribe to.

As an aside, I was at a CAJ panel discussion sometime in the late 1990s that featured Lloyd Robertson, CTV's longtime news anchor, and Peter Mansbridge, his CBC counterpart.

"I never thought I'd see the day there would be ads on The National," Mansbridge said, shaking his head grimly.

"We'll take them!" Robertson quipped. :)