The New York TImes' David Carr has decided to tilt at some windmills this week in suggesting there are better ways than others for the newspaper industry to withstand its troubles.
Trouble is, his ideas are pretty out there --- and the subject already in the blogosphere to some pretty harsh criticism. His focus on the business model doesn't include a look at the content model, and conventional wisdom (or what stands for it in this recession) is that you can't fix one without the other.
Among his ideas:
- No more free Web content.
- No more free relationship to aggregators.
- No more commoditized ads.
- A review of anti-competition laws.
He makes a plea, as have others, for government intervention (in this case, legal, not financial) to help address the economic issues. He believes newspapers can survive the storm by uniting.
