First, even without payment, some folk will always record music, write software, make their feature films, do their own investigative journalism, occasionally e

First, even without payment, some folk will always record music, write software, make their feature films, do their own investigative journalism, occasionally even test their own drugs. You couldn't stop them if you tried. While I agree with the broader sentiment, I do worry that you can keep people doing investigative journalism if you try. One thing a news organisation does for a journalist is act as a litigation shield. A single individual lacking the same protection is by nature less tenacious. For example the badscience.net blogger/doctor (Ben Goldacre) wrote something about that hideous man who is getting South Africans with AIDS to stop taking their retrovirals and telling them that vitamins will cure their HIV infections. Goldacre got sued; but because he is a columnist for the UK newspaper the Guardian (a small-fry weekly columnist, not at all a newsdesk star) the paper backed him with their legal team and chased the bad guys off. Now if he was just a blogger with no media connection he probably would have stood down rather than deal with the legal fees. [Reference: http://www.badscience.net/2009/04/matthias-rath-steal-this-chapter/ http://www.badscience.net/2009/04/matthias-rath-steal-this-c... ] I think lack of legal protection seriously chills citizen journalism. And legal protection is expensive.