A lot of stuff, even stuff that is sold as “journalism” is just re-packaged opinions. The writing that has flourished on the internet is stuff they can be produced cheaply (for example without going anywhere to do journalism). Or it is stuff that nobody would pay for, but if you stick it up with some ads, it’ll absorb some eyeballs. Or it is something that essentially benefits the author; pushing a particular opinion, trying to build a brand. All of this stuff serves to convince the user that paying for internet content would be foolish.

It might be possible to build an internet that is worth paying for, but it will be a massive bootstrapping project.