Arianna Huffington: pirate publisher or saviour of newspapers?

“A few years ago, Arianna Huffington, a 59-year-old immigrant from Greece, secured millions of dollars of other people’s money to launch an internet newspaper modestly called the Huffington Post,” writes Ira Basen in his most recent CBC Media Watch column. “Now, nearly five years later, with the mainstream media reeling, the one fact about Arianna Huffington that is not in dispute is that she and her Huffington Post are clearly bucking the trend.” Will her model help save newspapers or will it have precisely the opposite effect?