Following on from what we were saying the other day about charging models and the need for information to be free - or not - a piece in the latest Columbia Journalism Review by Michael Scherer gives us some insights that back up what we've been thinking in terms of the contest between on and offline news sources and how its likely to play out.

He reports recent research that shows "a poll of online newspaper readers under the age of thirty found that 31 percent had reduced their print readership because the same material is online."

Given newspapers' already declining circulation figures, Scherer argues: "At stake is nothing less than the future of print journalism."

A little melodramatic, perhaps, but it's clear where he's coming from.