The existing model is to treat the Internet as a magazine rack. It doesn't work that way.
A user might read one article from the WSJ a month. Obviously they won't pay 5 USD for that, they'll either attempt to get around the paywall or not bother.
Giving users a few free articles means that they'll just rotate around sites to get what they want. You need to charge a small amount from hit 1.
Not withstanding that it's not hard to build a paywall that actually functions, just don't send the content unless you've paid. This addon relies entirely on the fact that content which has not been paid for gets sent anyway.
Realistically though, the answer is that paid journalism disappears, or the Internet as we know it disappears. Increasingly lately it's looking like both will happen.