Newsweek has an interview with Vivian Schiller, who used to run NYTimes.com and recently moved to NPR.
Part of her strategy at NPR has been to move beyond radio and offer news for free on a redesigned website.
In the interview she offers her views on the news publishing landscape and criticizes some of the models we are exploring.
A lot of media pundits have been saying the salvation for commercial media is to become a not for profit. I laugh when I see that. The notion is that you declare yourself not for profit, and poof, all of your problems go away. Well guess what, if you’re a not for profit, you still have to raise all the money that you’re spending and then some, so you have a surplus when the economy goes off a cliff. It’s incredibly naive.
[...]
I am a staunch believer that people will not in large numbers pay for news content online. [...] News is a commodity; I’m sorry to say.
— NPR’s Digital Makeover Newsweek 27 Jul 2009