News sites all to charge, editor predicts

        The editor of the Financial Times predicts that virtually all news sites will be charging for access within a year. I predict it will start much sooner. Somehow journalism must be financed, and the advertising model seems to be collapsing (although I'm still waiting for someone to show that online advertising works; in fact, might part of the economic collapse be corporate decisions virtually eliminating traditional advertising?). 

      Before you write off Lionel Barber's opinion as "just that of a British journalist," realize that the dynamic changes in journalism are coming from outside the U.S. In fact, even within the U.S., the biggest positive changes seem to be coming from the empire of an Australian, Rupert Murdoch whose Wall Street Journal is leading the way in many ways. And, as I noted previously, the foreign newspapers I've read in the past few months (from India, Italy and Australia) all seem far more robust than virtually all American newspapers, even in cities where there are several daily publications.

       It's a good thing some publishers are looking ahead, not just worrying about surviving.