Arguably, in any other industry this would be seen as bad news: if two thirds of your potential customers are unwilling to even consider paying for your product, clearly there’s a problem. Instead, traditional media celebrate the fact that “more and more readers are willing to pay for news online.”
The real challenge isn’t access to a limited supply of news – it’s too much news, an overwhelming amount of information. Of course, that’s seeing the problem from customers’ perspective – while most (traditional) media companies prefer to keep looking at it from their own perspective: “Where’s the money?”
Ultimately, I’m sure, these two needs will align and there will be money in digital journalism – but this will require a radical rethinking of business models, completely new media products, and a lot of creativity. Far more than simply putting up a paywall.