A possible example of efficiency gains through lowered startup costs — consider what it took to start up the wire services (or, for that matter, Salon, which is certainly a competitor in this space): USA Today to Use Items From Start-Up News Site

Three months after two journalists left The Washington Post to start a new-media venture, their political coverage has found its way back to a national newspaper: USA Today.

USA Today said Friday that it would begin using articles produced by the start-up, The Politico, a mostly online news operation staffed by journalists who have worked for news outlets like Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.

Also — interesting to note that the NYTimes article includes hyperlinks to USA Today.com, but not to The Politico.