online journalism

The venerable newsweekly is joining the ever-growing list of outlets saying no to dispensing their content online for free -- or even for money, in some cases. Let's count the ironies here.

The current online journalism trend of dismantling venerable news organizations while preserving their accountability and integrity is failing. In recent weeks, online gaffes at the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, and Business Insider have all laid bare the perils of practicing journalism without a safety net.

French films usually include at least one scene of serious-looking, chain-smoking café patrons reading the newspaper. But that shot is make-believe: The newspaper industry, as troubled as it is in the U.S., is dying in the land of Sartre and Voltaire, where the per-capita circulation is...