David Carr, a columnist with The New York Times, posed a question in a Jan. 12 column.

He wondered whether the Apple and Steve Jobs touch that revised the music industry through iTunes and a handheld device, an iPod, might lay the groundwork for revitalizing newspapers.

“Apple’s iTunes, the ubiquitous online music store that sold more than 2.4 billion tracks last year alone, changed its own tune, announcing that songs would no longer be sold with copying restrictions and that they would be available at various prices,” Mr. Carr wrote.

“The digerati crowed over the collapse of the hated digital rights management, which Apple never liked, either, and record companies kicked up their heels at the thought of leaving behind the tyranny of the 99-cent price point.

“But lost in the hubbub was the fact that Steve Jobs and Apple had been able to charge for content in the first place. When iTunes began, file-sharing was decimating the music industry. Jobs helped pull the business from the brink. He has been accused of running roughshod over the music labels, which are a fraction of their former size, but they are still in business.”

Mr. Carr then raised the question of whether those in the newspaper business, and he included himself, should wish for a Steve Jobs white knight to emerge to convert the unfettered, free online world into pay-for-news.

If only it were that simple — but there may be some ground for an entrepreneur to explore.

More than 20 years earlier, newspapers decided that having a toehold in the emerging digital world was a sign of staying in touch with rising trends. Those early Web pages were clunky at best, and totally illogical for someone interested in news to use.

Jumping ahead through the next few decades, newspapers watched their cooperative, The Associated Press, decide that search engines were the answer to a collapsing newspaper business model.

Guided by leaders of major newspaper companies, the AP moved content from the printed pages to the online properties of Google and Yahoo.

Maybe it is time for the AP and its board of directors to revisit the Google/Yahoo decision and ask the search engine companies to put their creative talents into figuring out how to fix the newspaper business model. Neither search engine has a desire to expend its resources to pay for news content that is being provided by newspapers across the country. There should be no reluctance in asking for assistance from those who may have a better understanding of a new business model for newspapers than those who have spent years giving away the one prize they offer — original, local content.

They might come up with an iTunes model for news. The issues are not complicated. First, will the newspaper industry grasp and adopt the new model? And if they build it, will the consumers come, particularly to a world that places a value on the news that is not everywhere?

To reach Tom Griscom, call (423) 757-6472 or e-mail tgriscom@timesfreepress.com.