Marr's gloomy journalistic future.Who's going to pay?

To me Andrew Marr is one of the most respected journalists around at the moment and it's worth reading the comments that he has given to the Independent of which he was the former editor.

He voices his concerns about journalism to Ian Burrell this morning and its the question that has been aired on this blog many times

The thing that worries me most at the moment about the condition of journalism is, frankly, who's going to pay for the journalists and the journalism in 10 years' time? Teenagers, people in their twenties, even in their late twenties, have now got to the position where they wouldn't pay for news. They expect their news to be free, they expect it to be in a free newspaper on the underground or at the bus station or, more often, they expect it to be a free good on their laptops. My kids wouldn't dream of buying a newspaper – and we are a newspaper household."

If journalism disappears then it affects all society.His thoughts on blooging are also interesting

In the blogging world there is a vast, swirling typhoon of comment, grandly called analysis. A reporting journalist is someone who is paid to spend lots of time asking questions, reading, going back again. Anyone can produce words but you need a system which pays journalists to spend time to find stuff out."

and that is an important distinction between the ameteur and the professional.It's your time against the organisations.

His comments about political reporting are also poignant

"We've had huge numbers of stories about the extent to which Gordon Brown is depressed, gloomy, not sleeping. We have had lots of analysis of David Cameron's media strategy and style, all of which is interesting and important up to a point – but I worry how much is being slipped through in terms of policy changes