Would a pay-per-article work better or would it repel users?
I think a "pay-per-article" may have worked better 10 years ago, I can't even justify paying for great newspapers anymore..
It's a race to the bottom, where the only real money will come from advertisers.
This is only true of print. Digital subscriptions are growing[1], and the national newspapers in the US (WaPo, NYT, LAT) are doing well financially. They're growing and hiring. Digital subscriptions exploded after Trump was elected.
1. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/01/circulation-...