• Time, Friday, February 6, 2009 9:15 AM

While Time magazine is facing some of its own survival problems, it is examining how to keep newspapers from becoming extinct. The problem is that news organizations are "merrily giving away" their news to growing hordes of young online readers.

"I am hoping that this year will see the dawn of the bold, old idea of news organizations charging users for their services and journalism," writes Walter Isaacson. The key to attracting online revenue is to come up with an iTunes-easy method of micropayment. Needed is something like digital coins or an E-ZPass - a one-click system with a simple interface that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article or video for a penny, dime or whatever the creator chooses to charge.

Two creative digital innovators have shown that a pay-per-drink model can work when it's made easy enough: Steve Jobs got music consumers comfortable with the concept of paying 99 cents for a tune and Jeff Bezos with his Kindle showed that consumers would buy electronic versions of books if purchases could be done simply.

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