Sunday Times: 'Online can shovel out pap and press releases but proper journalism costs money'

Richard Woods in the Sunday Times today makes the case for the paywall that will be going up around the paper's website.
In an article headlined: 'Why a free press is worth paying for,' he writes: "Online, you can shovel out celebrity pap and press releases for virtually nothing. But properly informed reporting, analysis, investigations and the sharpest wit will cost money.
"That is why The Sunday Times and The Times are about to start charging a fee for their new websites, believing that it is the best interests of both readers and journalists."
He adds: "A business can give away its products - or have them plundered - only for so long without collapse, as the music industry knows to its cost."

• The article says that to understand the cost of "good journalism and real news" readers should look at the Sunday Times' investment in covering Iraq and its in depth investigation into Japan bribing some nations to support its slaughter of whales.