Our guest on today's episode of "Newspaper Guys Whine About Money" is Benjamin J. Marrison, editor of the Columbus Dispatch, who wants you to know that "High-quality journalism isn't 'free.'"

The last guest, Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times, wanted Congress to allow newspapers to form a cartel to set prices for online content. Marrison takes a different tack, arguing that "you get what you pay for," and therefore you must pay for online news from newspapers, not because it's worth anything, but because it's expensive to produce.

Once again borrowing, which is to say stealing, a format from Fire Joe Morgan, and once again encouraging you to go read the piece so you can catch me in any out-of-context or cherry-picked quoting, I give you Mr. Marrison:

Journalists can be their own worst enemies.

Except when we're our readers' worst enemies, which I have a feeling you're about to make the case for being.

We seek to be transparent, ethical and aboveboard, so we go out of our way to point out our flaws. (What other industry points out its own errors daily?)

Baseball? Points 'em out in real time. Or, to be a little serious, the NFL routinely issues a statement on a Monday saying a game official had made an error on Sunday. I think the science biz is pretty good at policing itself too. Let's not hurt our arms patting ourselves on the back, we journalists. Doctors aren't free.

In holding ourselves to a high standard, we sometimes flog ourselves unnecessarily and incessantly.

Something's piling pretty high all right, but I wouldn't have said it was the standard. I think I might plant flowers. But OK, let's skip a bit. Marrison is making the point that newspapers are dwelling too heavily on their own demise, when in fact only a handful of papers have folded and readership remains strong, though the economic slump and structural changes in the economic model have hurt them.

When word came that Advance Publications would close its paper in Ann Arbor, Mich., to experiment with an all-digital newspaper, we perceived a good opportunity to see the effects on the city, home to the University of Michigan. Joe Hallett's story about Ann Arbor appears to the left of this column.

I'm reading online. To the left of this column is a pack of gum, a stapler and a little race car my kid made out of popsicle sticks and noodles. You might have provided a link to Hallett's story, this being the Internet and all.

But this is just a story from the newspaper that you shoveled online, isn't it? And I'm supposed to pay for it? I don't pay to pick a newspaper section out of the recycling bin at the train station.

Hallett's story is here, folks.

You owe me a nickel, Marrison.

It may be too early to discern the full impact, but residents already have strong opinions about the loss: They feel disconnected.

Number of people in Ann Arbor, according to Hallett: 114,000. Number of people Hallett quotes saying they miss the newspaper: 5. Number of people Hallett quotes who say they feel disconnected, none of whom use that word: 3.

Kenneth A. Paulson, former editor of USA Today and chief executive officer of the Newseum, a museum dedicated to the First Amendment, [says] "Daily newspapers do more than report events in the neighborhood. They're voices for progress and a unifying element in an increasingly diverse society."

As a voice for progress, it's every newspaper's duty to stand in the way of technical innovation and the development of new business models that would foster a greater diversity of voices in an increasingly diverse society.

[This is still Paulson talking] "A good newspaper has always been a constructive nag for progress, and that cannot be replaced by any number of tweets or Facebook postings."

Why not? I'm really asking: Why not?

What frustrates newspaper people is that some readers expect to get news free. Certainly, some news is available free. But you get what you pay for.

I'm tired of explaining this to newspaper people: We pay for online news. We pay to connect to the Internet. If you're not getting any of that dough, that's between you and the Internet service providers. It's not our fault you haven't made the right deals. We're pulling our weight out here. We are not freeloaders.

But forget that, which you newspaper people always do and you probably already have.

Last month the Dispatch ran an obituary of Walter Cronkite, taken off the McClatchy wire. Right in the lede, Cronkite was referred to as having earned the title "most trusted man in America," a phrase that was likely repeated in every single Cronkite obit and remembrance.

It was free to watch Walter Cronkite.

Last week the Dispatch ran an obit of Don Hewitt, taken off the Associated Press wire. Hewitt was hailed as a giant of broadcast journalism.

It was and remains free to watch Hewitt's creation, "60 Minutes." But you get what you pay for, so those birds must not have been worth anything. And don't get me started on that bum Edward R. Murrow!

And, just an aside, Marrison, but do you really expect me to pay for the Dispatch online so I can read the same wire stories I can read hundreds of other places?

Good journalism takes time and money. Having people work all hours to cover, edit and package the news is expensive. Basing reporters throughout central Ohio and in Washington costs money. So does covering sporting events across North America. And employing world-class photographers and artists comes with a price, as well.

Holy smoke, dude. You need to come up with a business model!

If advertisers can't or won't pay for it, readers must -- in print and, eventually, online.

OK, good first try. But that's not a business model. That's a whine. Or maybe it's a demand. Do you have hostages?

As Paulson says: "How comfortable would you be going to a doctor who didn't charge you a fee?

First, I'd be very comfortable. Very, very comfortable. Not just comfortable. Ecstatic. In fact, now that you mention it, can you please make this happen? It happens in some of the civilized countries I've heard about.

Second, just as one example among many, there's an organization called Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, that provides free medical care to hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of countries. I think the people receiving that care are very, very comfortable with the idea that they won't be getting a bill for it.

[More Paulson] "How willing are you to entrust your finances to an accountant who's going to do your taxes for free?"

And so on. Listen: "You get what you pay for" is not economics. It's debatably wise consumer advice. You can pay a few hundred bucks for a laptop or you can buy one for $20,000. Think you'll get what you pay for?

We pay the doctor and the accountant because they have skills that are scarce and valuable, something that cannot be said about the content of almost all newspapers and news Web sites. This is not even high school economics. Stop being willfully stupid about this point, newspaper guys.

Thanks for supporting The Dispatch. We will continue to strive to make the newspaper worth your time and money.

I read this online, but you're welcome. I got what I paid for.