The problem I have with this piece is that it doesn't really offer any solutions and is basically a justification for trying to ask people for free work.

Journalists rarely think about business models, which I think is one of the main reasons that journalism is doing so poorly. Some journalists abhor the idea of even thinking about how to support their work.

I wrote a post with some suggestions on how we can pay for great writing: http://patthorntonfiles.com/blog/2013/03/06/paying-for-great...

My company got a reporting series funded on Kickstarter ($15,000), others are using Kindle Singles and there are other models to explore as well. I like what The Magazine is doing too.

Sitting around saying, "well our freelancer budget is small" doesn't help the situation.