Rupert Murdoch continues to bang the drum for pay walls:

"Quality journalism is not cheap," Mr Murdoch said, noting that the success of The Wall Street Journal's online subscription offering has convinced him that consumers will pay for news online that differentiates itself from the mass of information available free on the web. "A newspaper that gives away its content is simply cannibalising its ability to produce good reporting."

There's a fine distinction within this excerpt: The Wall Street Journal is not a newspaper. It's a provider of targeted information that its audience uses to guide financial decisions. The value proposition is driven by the actions and outcomes the information facilitates. General news rarely offers this type of value, which means the commonalities between the WSJ and newspapers are limited to bits, print, ink and distribution.

That's not to say the WSJ doesn't provide a lesson for general news publishers. The key is to provide tangible, actionable value for the audience via content. That's what WSJ subscribers are buying (or configuring ...)