"The expense of printing created an environment where Wal-Mart was willing to subsidize the Baghdad bureau." I know this is figurative language, but Shirky made a bad choice -- Wal-Mart doesn't advertise in newspapers much. They experimented with a large push three years ago, and decided it wasn't worthwhile. ( source: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display... )