Michael Wolff Information wants to be paid for. The joyous battle cry that information wants to be free was a way to blow the Internet out - to ratchet up gross user numbers and build a fever in the capital markets. Television is the metaphor Wall Street likes, not magazines.
Magazines are too niche.
There's just no sizzle. There is simply not enough stretch in the Web ad dollar to spend much on information. Information, therefore, becomes an infomercial. So Intuit, which is in the business of selling insurance and mortgage products, also provides you with personal finance info. Convincing consumers that news provided by a news organization is more valuable than news provided by a travel company is a publisher's job.