Information May Want to Be Free—but Not Journalism
My first real job in journalism was writing about labor unions and workplace issues. Brushing up, I read a book called The Teamsters that was then about six years old. It was an amazing history of power, greed, and crime at the most powerful union in the world, back when unions had real power. The author, a Yale Law school grad named Steve Brill, published the book when he was just 29. He went on to an impressive career as a media entrepreneur: founder of American Lawyer magazine, founder of Court TV, founder of Brill's Content, columnist for Newsweek. Now he's got a plan to make journalism pay, and it begins online. Hint: "The Atlantic is idiotic to give its stuff away for free." (Note to my old boss and friend Chris Anderson: He's not so enamored of the Free concept.)