httpwebwitch - 7:53 pm on Mar 30, 2005 (gmt 0)

I, for similar reasons, have not bought my local newspaper in over 5 years.

But wait. With the exception of the big national rags, local newspapers are local, and they reflect the concerns and curiosity of the community they serve. When my local city council decides to expnd a highway, or when there's a scandal in municipal overspending, that gets reported by local paper. CNN.com is great for reading about tsunamis, it doesn't report the daily activities of my community.

If local newspapers offer their content online with a subscription fee, people will subscribe to read about their local affairs. The end result might be a de-globalization of small papers to cover only the local events and concerns of a particular community.

For global and national news, CNN and other big players should continue to give it away for free. The advertising revenue justifies their effort. Local news agencies do not have readership in the kajillions, so a reasonable subscription fee would be appropriate.