can the news work?

Via Ross Douthat, a smart post from Ezra Klein about the failure of Politico's business model.

I hope a post like this gives many of the grave-dancing new media types pause. There's a strain of people on the web who delight in talking about the downfall of the traditional media, as though it's something to celebrate. The Gawker media sites, for example, take even more hate-filled glee in celebrating the downfall of the traditional media than they do in celebrating the downfall of, well, everyone and everything. But this kind of schadenfreude typically is grounded in the idea that the web will replace the traditional print and television media as our providers of news, features, and criticism. What will happen, though, if neither can be made profitable?

I know that I run the danger of entering permanent self parody mode when I post so often about skepticism of capitalism. But I've always wondered: what is to become of important social institutions if they can't be made profitable? I think that it is very clear that a functioning democracy absolutely requires a large, aggressive, independent and thorough news media. But what if such a thing can't turn a profit, in the wake of new technologies? (To earn myself at least a few points as a not-totally-in-the-bag lefty, financing the news media in large part through government funds is a terrible idea, as much as I admire public television and radio, because of the chilling effect such dependence would have on the media's ability to critique sitting governments.) How can we continue to function in our usual methods of self-governance if the news business slowly and sadly closes up shop?

It's been suggested before that commercial aviation and rail travel just can't be made consistently profitable without government assistance (and indeed, in the US both industries are subsidized a great deal by the government). I would soon be wading far out of my depth if I tried to settle that question one way or the other, so for the sake of argument let's just accept that it's true. What happens, hypothetically, if an essential service like aviation or railways can't be driven exclusively by profits? And can a real news media function only based on the profit model? These are important questions, though I'm certainly not doing them justice.

Oh, and Ross shut down his comments. It's a sad thing, though I understand why he felt he had to do it-- though I was certainly one of the ones criticizing him in that space, often enough.