The Sporting News is going to charge for online access.

If nothing else, I admire their courage. There are a few big names out there who are willing to test the waters. They will either blaze a trail or prove that online consumers aren’t ready for this sort of thing. This concept is constantly evolving and no one is sure where it’s going to end up. Perhaps in a couple of years even us community newspapers will be behind a pay wall as publishers universally continue to struggle with the balance of making content available online vs. the need to turn a profit.

But in the meantime, why should I pay to access the Sporting News’ content when I can already get much better news from ESPN.com for free?