First the Straits Times, and now the New York Times..

Just yesterday, as I was browsing my daily NY Times news alert email, I clicked on an article by Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman and was shocked to discover that the NY Times recently began to charge for columns by its top columnists. You may recall my grief in February when the Straits Times of Singapore began charging for online access; the South China Morning Post pulled this stunt four years ago. I fear that soon, I'll be stuck reading rags like the People's Daily and the National Post.

For the last few years, I've enjoyed and have been educated by fabulous columnists with names like Paul Krugman, Thomas L. Friedman, and Maureen Dowd. I'll especially miss Paul Krugman, whose ability to make extremely complicated economic matters sound so simple has inspired me to do the same in every academic paper I've ever written. I'll even miss Tommy Friedman, especially when he's not going on about how The World Is Round and talking about Lexuses and Olive Trees. Even though the guy is a bit too Jerry Maguire in trying to make up new catchphrases, I do like how he puts ideas together. Earlier this year, I nearly bust a gut laughing when I read a slate.com writer poke fun at Friedman's habit of peddling his books in his columns. As for Maureen Dowd, her criticism of W in the past five years has always been entertaining. Nicolas Kristof is good, especially when he writes about Africa and lately, Pakistan and Burma, but he seems less than partial when he writes about China. And even though I rarely agree with the likes of William Safire and Phillip Bowring (who's actually a contributor to the NY Times-owned International Herald Tribune), it's nice to hear their opinions, which not only influences a large portion of the American public and intellectual community, but also represents them.

Hmm.. I suppose I can find these columns through journal searches. Ah... that's the beauty of being a student again. I love school-subsidised suscriber services...