Mark Glaser of Mediashift and Tim Porter of First Draft have an interesting conversation going regarding the viability of paid online newspaper content.

Glaser kicked off the debate with a post calling for the NY Times to end their Times Select product:
Mr. Sulzberger, Tear Down This (TimesSelect) Wall!

Porter followed with a defense of the Times need to actually make money off their Internet endeavors:

The bottom line (which both agree on) is newspapers are not onthe Internet to do charity work. The problem is - the Web is only16-years-old and no one really knows what the correct business model isyet.

Glaser is advocating a broadcast-TV approach: give away thecontent and monetize the eyeballs through advertising.

Porter seems to lean toward the paid circulation/cable-TV model: mixingsubscription revenues for premium content with advertising.

The fun of it is - there is no answer but it sure is going to beinteresting watching everyone figure it out over the next 10-years orso.

My guess - the Times can get away with charging a premium, but mostnewspapers will have to rely on advertising revenue and (hopefully)some incremental revenues from products and services that may not haveeven been invented yet. How’s that for optimism?