1.) there is an abundance of news sites in English
2.) there are not enough people who want to pay for news
3.) Google takes about 45% of all online global advertising
The situation is different for non-English publications. I know, for instance, there are limited number of fashion/news magazines aimed at women in Poland, and Polish women, all over the world, are willing to pay to support those magazines. So there are 5 or 6 fashion/news magazines in Polish that are doing well.
But in English? There are tens of thousands of such publications and there is not enough money for them all.
http://kachingle.com/
The criticism that was made of Kachingle is actually relevant for this whole category of startup. You should read "The Limits Of Tip Jar Journalism":
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/kachin...
There are 3 main problems:
1.) there is an abundance of news sites in English
2.) there are not enough people who want to pay for news
3.) Google takes about 45% of all online global advertising
The situation is different for non-English publications. I know, for instance, there are limited number of fashion/news magazines aimed at women in Poland, and Polish women, all over the world, are willing to pay to support those magazines. So there are 5 or 6 fashion/news magazines in Polish that are doing well.
But in English? There are tens of thousands of such publications and there is not enough money for them all.