It turns out at least one veteran journalist understands the business of the Web and newspapers. Michael Kinsley, citing lessons learned the hard way when he ran Slate, brings a voice of reason to the debate over paid Web content:
Newspaper readers have never paid for the content (words and photos). What they have paid for is the paper that content is printed on. ... The harsh truth is that the typical American newspaper is an anachronism. It is an artifact from a time when chopping down trees was essential to telling the news, and when you couldn’t get The New York Times or The Washington Post closer to your bed than the front door, where the local paper lies, sopping wet.
Most business ideas in journalism that have succeeded, and that can protect the credibility of the journalism along with being a good business idea, emanate from newsrooms, which people tend to forget. The best-meaning advertising director's not going to have a good idea about how we're going to prosper on the web.
It's worth reading all of Kinsley's thoughts on the subject. Clay Shirky has an excellent analysis, as well.
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