Walter Isaacson, the respected former Time Magazine editor now at the Aspen Institute, has written for his old publication on how to save the newspaper.
In short, it comes down to micropayments. Isaacson is unsupportive of the free-for-all approach and he's not convinced that subscription models will work, either. That said, he decries the advertising-only model because he concludes that makes the entity too slavish to the sales.
His online essay is quite contextual and well reasoned, and it advocates a variation on a recent theme from David Carr on the need for an iTunes model. He's also of the view that it's not the columns, but the higher-quality reporting, that is most attractive as a business model.
Bill Keller, the New York Times editor, takes some issue with the essay. He thinks Isaacson doesn't find the way to ensure traffic isn't suffocated when a subscription model intercedes with search engine technology.
