Secondly, the concept of amateur/citizen journalism is not even close to dying, but see my point above for getting people some remuneration.

User generated content is only of poor quality because the users of anything have so far been restricted to end-user, the people who have to earn a living doing something else. not the current journalism producers.

The sooner Mr. Murdoch sees that he should charge by the piece, as it were, (through what ever means he can think of but I have my own biases and reasons but arriving at them,) the sooner end-users can be gently set aside and journalists can begin to earn some remuneration.

The journalist’s employer becomes himself.(1)

This can work provided you actually use computers and the internet for what its good for: keeping track of payments owed to individuals and corporations.

The problem is one of vision not technology.

We can keep track of every single user/reader/viewer of every single thing produced to be used/read/seen by every/any-body.

You earn income based on what value you have added to something/anything/everything.

Its the ultimate market economy for information. Its just arrived at by simultaneously doing something for the common good.

To paraphrase and thoroughly butcher Marx: “To each according to the needs he fulfills, from each according their needs.

If you’re truly worthless, you’re truly worthless.

Let the market determine the value of the needs you fulfill.

The problem comes with the baseline you get from simply being alive and breathing, a condition you we’re consulted on beforehand.

Since you weren’t consulted, we as a society must bear the burden of your existence.

We as a society should, can and do determine what needs you can fulfill.

You can ameliorate your lot by providing value which is more indispensable than you would otherwise be required to provide.

Sounds cruel? Its not. It can be a godsend for those currently in free-fall, jettisoned over the side of this sinking ship of an economy.

Cruel would be requiring all of the pot-holes on main street to be filled in by the greedy, inept and incompetent manipulators on Wall Street.

1) See why we need health insurance reform? When nobody, apart from a shrinking pool of employees, actually has any employer paid insurance coverage, the alternative is for employers to petition for the government to provide the health care coverage and ease the burden on the remaining employers and for all these gainfully self-employed people to petition the government to put aside its toys, like tanks, planes and missiles, and start taking care of its citizenry.