One model of sustainable journalism

Inspired by the Japanese solution to dealing with elderly shoplifters,CJR reports that Matthew Yglesias may have hit on a solution for journalism

Yesterday a friend and I were discussing the case for subsidizing friendship precisely to help people avoid the problem of loneliness. In many developed societies, after all, this form of deprivation is arguably about as severe a problem as any deprivation of material goods. For the elderly, however, the answer may be that they need to learn to use the internet. I also have the idiosyncratic view that the answer to a lot of questions you hear about the future of certain kinds of journalistic activities is going to be “bored old people will do it for free once they all have broadband.” Who will write up the city council meeting? Bored old people! It beats shoplifting.