Dave Winer, software entrepreneur and untiring self-promoter, is one of those who believe the future of journalism is not only online but unpaid: “The key is to look at all those empty newsrooms, and to envision, before they completely shut down, filling them with volunteers—who we can teach to write the news.”

It should be noted that Winer, who calls himself one of the pioneers of both blogging and podcasting, has long believed Web content makers shouldn’t expect renumeration, at least not directly, from their sites. The most one can hope for, in Winer’s model, is publicity for one’s offline for-profit ventures. When he’s asked about people whose real work, whose “product,” IS their words/images/sounds, Winer invariably changes the subject to how the Grateful Dead sold lots of concert tickets by freely allowing bootleg tapes. As if the Dead’s business model could even have worked for non-“jam band” musical acts, let alone for writers or illustrators.