Newspapers

Many of our newspapers are in financial trouble. True, people are reading their papers on-line, but they are not paying for it like their parents did when they paid the paperboy every week for the paper. That's the crux of the problem. If you can get something in a convenient form for free, why pay for it. When radio starting playing records, the record companies panicked. Then ASCAP started charging radio stations fees to play recorded music. Under an arcane formula, songwriters got money for air play.

We need to use ASCAP as the business model to charge moderate fees for reading publications online. We'll all hate it and grumble but we'll do it if we have no choice. The publishers must unite and create a pay mechanism for its content. Internet providers will have to pay a fee to receive magazine and newspaper content. They'll pass the cost onto consumers. Schools and libraries would get a free ride since they are largely their own isp's. Problem solved.

My chair collapsed while I was sitting in it. I feel like I am in a Japanese restaurant. It's feelings must have been hurt by an earlier blog.