Thoughtful essay by Clay Shirky about the failure of paywalls and the prospects for funding journalism through core users. The author encourages newspapers to stop treating their readers as generic consumers and "figure out how to reward the people most committed to their long-term survival." Interesting observations about the likelihood that these core users may be more politically engaged (and partisan) than the median reader.

Here we have a nice presentation of the current dilemma of newspapers in the light of the epoch of online competition. The base problem of funding is examined with an eye on separating the news junkies and more politically partisan readers from the "coupon clippers".

The author’s breezy style feels a little bit like swinging with Tarzan from vine to vine through the jungle. A lot of assertions are casually thrown about and then left behind, and it isn't particularly clear in many cases exactly what the argument is, let alone how it is being supported. Maybe I am just grumpy because I have gotten the impression that Shirky thinks I (that is, the kind of newspaper consumer that I am) do not exist. But it's hard to tell.