How to Save Newspapers, Charity Edition

From Slate.com, which happens to be owned by the Washington Post Co. (WPO):

And just to be clear: The video is a joke. But the preroll ads that run before it–the two I’ve seen before are for Amway and some kind of fast food chain called Red Robin–are real. I think. Also not a joke: The New York Times (NYT)  is surveying readers to see what they’d think of paying $5 a month for Web access to the paper.

In related news, tomorrow is the first annual “Freelancers put on your pants day,” according to ASSME, which is a sort-of-serious blog/support group formed in the wake of last fall’s mass layoffs.