I beg to differ. Most major newspapers now charge a hefty fee for back articles. I just paid the Boston Herald $4.95 for an article from six months ago. This is becoming a very lucrative source of revenue for them. I'm sure they do not appreciate the fact that many of those articles can be pulled up on sites like Free Republic.
If the RIAA is successful in suing individuals who are sharing music files, the newspapers are going to come after sites like Free Republic next. Mark my words.