I don't know whether my position is morally sound, but it's at least pretty clear in my head:

- I want society to support professional journalism.

- There is an infinity of worthy things to read on the internet. I want to browse content from many sources.

- However, it is no longer the 1990s. People don't choose a single newspaper to be delivered to their houses and open it over the breakfast table.

- Accordingly, I don't want to have to choose a single newspaper to support, like people did in the <=1990s.

- Personally, beyond checking the headlines, I mostly read the news nowadays with a feeling that I'm time-wasting: that I should be spending my time doing something more worthwhile.

- So it really seems that payment has to be per article. Presumably some sort of subscription-based micropayment service: pay $20 a month; can read content from (and thus support) many professional journalists. Something like Blendle. Although when I tried that a year or so ago it didn't offer the type of browsing I was looking for.