I’ve been posting lately at the National Arts Journalism Program’s new Articles blog. Today I enumerated the business reasons why newspapers are laying off staff, cutting content and scaling back their businesses. Does it really have to be this way? #

Our culture is undergoing profound changes. Our expectations for what culture can (or should) do for us are changing. Relationships between those who make and distribute culture and those who consume it are changing. And our definitions of what artists are, how they work, and how we access them and their work are changing. So... 
Of course not. The suits must develop a new income steam to pay for websites and wireless outlets. It may be as simple as adapting the “free newspaper” model. While millions of people read news online, they do not want to pay for it. And they do not read the pop-up ads and other annoyances. Unfortunately, online readers got use to freebies.
Quite frankly, I prefer the sensual delight of reading a newspaper.