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Come on. Get real. Do you honestly think people will pay to read Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, Frank Rich and the New Yawk Times' Op Ed page? The New York Times claims they are putting the op ed columns and writers behind a wall to make - cash.
[Pause here while you wipe the laughter from your eyes.]

Let's face it. They are putting them behind a wall for the same reason that the Globe and Mail put their columnists behind a subscription requirement (the ONLY part of the paper behind the wall) -- to protect their columnists' fragile egos. And reputations.

Business Week doesn't believe the $49.95 for Paul Krugman model will work.

It's true consumers are willing to pay more for certain media offerings. (Consider today's cable bill vs. 1995's, or the costs of broadband vs. dial-up.) But one key market perversity is that this dynamic does not apply to print. Financial analysts find a growing dependence of leading papers -- including the Times -- on discounted subscriptions.

Face it. The New Yawk Times just doesn't like their columnists to be ridiculed.