I remember in the late 90s, it was predicted that microtransactions would save journalism from the scourge of the expectation that information on the Internet would be free. Forego obtrusive ads (this was the dawn of the pOp-up) and intrusive user tracking by charging some amount too small to refuse - say, a nickel, which is far more than ad-impression revenue - to read a full article, which would be aggregated by a clearinghouse to monthly payments from the customer, to the content creators.
But no, they all want subscriptions.
So journalism dies.