Merely transferring the content of existing newspapers online and expecting payment won't work because they are two separate business concepts.

It is useless to put news agency stories behind the paid curtain because they are available in thousands of other places that will be free.

I believe that online paid content hasn't worked for general circulation newspapers because consumers weren't ready for it, because the implementation did not deliver enough value, because content was typically the same as in the print version, and because much of the material was being syndicted by the papers to other publishers or was not protected with DRM technologies to exclude use by others.

Charging for news online won't work if what is provided is the same as is available elsewhere.

Merely transferring the content of existing newspapers online and expecting payment won't work because they are two separate business concepts.

Even non-commercial media rely on transferring cost to users through licence fees, donations from listeners, viewers, or readers, or grants from companies and foundations that have wrestled their funds from the public in some form of earlier commercial activity.

It is usually a mistake to reject something merely because it has been tried before and didn't work.