Jared Paul Stern's Payola Six blackmail scandal isn't just a big-media New York issue, says tech journalist Paul Boutin — it holds a lesson for the bottom-feeders citizen journalists of the New Media.

I got a round of applause (they were drunk) for suggesting this at dinner: Jared Paul Stern's mistake was trying to land one big covert deal, like MSN ad sales. The Web 2.0 approach is a transparent system of automated micropayments: You slap Paypal/Amazon donation buttons on each of Gawker's sites and label them "Keep Your Name off Valleywag."

Apple execs: I accept payment in iTunes money.