Photo by Chris Rief

The Washington Post is finally getting with the program that daily newspapers probably shouldn’t be in the business of giving away the news for free and plans to start charging for access to its website later this year.

Starting this summer, visitors to the Post’s website who access more than 20 articles in a month will be charged a still-unspecified fee. While this paywall will be structured similarly to one implemented in 2011 by The New York Times, it is a bit more generous about who will still have unlimited free access. Under the reported terms, home-delivery subscribers will receive complimentary access to the website; so will schools, military personnel, and government employees.

The Post also plans to launch a new subscription-based iPad app, replacing the current program that features a launch screen reading “Enjoy a complimentary subscription for a limited time.”

But it also appears that it will be relatively easy for people in other fields to get all the Post they want without paying a dime. According to a press release from the newspaper, “Visitors who come to The Post through Google, Facebook or other searched or shared links will still be able to access the linked page regardless of the number of articles they have previously viewed.”

Donald Graham, The Washington Post Company’s chief executive, expressed some doubts last year about the usefulness of a paywall for a newspaper that derives as much as 90 percent of its online audience from outside the metropolitan area it serves.

The Post’s circulation fell to 462,228 in 2012, according to figures released today as part of Pew’s annual State of the Media report.