Would Thomas Friedman pay to read himself?

Slate brings up a good point from Friedman's book "The World Is Flat," where he says this:

But I believe that all online newspapers should be free, and on principle I refuse to pay for an online subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

There's more to Friedman's comment than that, so see the link.

It's "only" $50 a year to access these guys, but I think the best point I've read about the issue (from Steve Klein of George Mason University in this Editor & Publisher article) is this:

"Even if the Times picked up most of its existing online readers, how are they going to grow a new generation of online Op-Ed readers if they keep the columnists behind a pay firewall?"

Update: If you didn't know, John Tobain at Never Pay Retail is posting links to NY Times columns for free.