I think you miss where Shirky is coming from. He's not arguing for the dissolution of the newspaper business; he's trying to figure out a way to save some parts of it. As you say, newspapers will survive as long as they provide a package you can't get anywhere else – and the reason Shirky is writing his post is that the time when the newspapers did provide such a package is already past. And so, they're currently dropping like flies. Go google "newspapers closing" and read any of the first pages of hits if you don't believe me. It's not just the US either. I've done consulting gigs at major Swedish newspapers, and none of them are expecting to have a paper version ten years from now.
Differently put, Shirky is not recommending moving journalists from a classic-style paper to a non-profit organisation. He's recommending moving them from unemployment to a non-profit organisation.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-10-03 10:45 am (UTC)Differently put, Shirky is not recommending moving journalists from a classic-style paper to a non-profit organisation. He's recommending moving them from unemployment to a non-profit organisation.