New radio stations and other news outlets have emerged in eastern Libya where opponents of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have seized control. A new daily newspaper -- called Libya -- has appeared in the country's second city, Benghazi, where residents have been celebrating with huge demonstrations. And two opposition-controlled radio stations, thought to be using the transmitters of Libyan state radio that have fallen into opposition hands, have been heard.

The U.S. has always had a much stronger belief than other industrialized countries in the idea that if news is worth reporting then somehow money will stick to it. The starting point is always that the market will provide, and furthermore that the first amendment is best protected if it does. The idea of an American BBC is as shocking as it is unlikely.

On Feb. 27, 2009, Colorado's oldest newspaper printed its final edition and itself became part of the story of the destruction of the Great Recession and the demise of the newspaper industry. Two years later, I surveyed the 194 full and part-time members of the staff who were there on its last day to learn how their lives had changed. Perhaps the most depressing finding: 98 out of 146 respondents, or 67%, said they were earning less today than they made at the Rocky.