When it comes to making the news, the undeniable truth is that someone is paying to get it made. If consumers don't pay for the news, others will. Even the new

When it comes to making the news, the undeniable truth is that someone is paying to get it made. If consumers don't pay for the news, others will. Even the news on public broadcasting channels is paid for: through public funding and - ultimately - taxpayer money. It used to be that you would pay to get a newspaper, or you would have a yearly subscription to the newspaper. Add in advertising and newspapers were able to break even. Reach in the analogue world was limited to a local city, region or country. Scaling simply didn't make much sense. Local news was a matter of ensuring that the paper would still be around next year to report on local affairs. And local communities had a stake in ensuring that their paper stayed operational. Then there was the Web. Originally conceived as a way of exchanging research information, the foundational idea was to remove all bars and give open access to whatever is published. The early Web pretty much thrived on this idea up until the dotcom boom when e-commerce started to explode. News outlets enthusiastically joined the fray, publishing articles and content for free. But as internet connectivity became mainstream and penetrated all strata of society, an ever increasing influx of visitors also meant rampant costs and expenses to cater to those ballooning audiences. This happened rapidly. By the time newspapers - or any publisher - started to add paywalls to their content, it was already too late. Others seized the moment, and bigger fish had successfully consolidated the market around their offering, buying and leveraging news outlets and advertising as links in larger chains that drive consumers towards the convenience of online consumerism. You are right, saving the current players that constitute the news industry isn't a justification for breaking up conglomerates that influence the current trend of news making. But creating a more level playing field for new players to entering sustainable and durable news reporting with modern business models, is. While at the same time promoting why consumers should pay for the news they read on line, and making it clear why that's important.