A little while back, the Miami Herald started asking for donations.  Not fees, but donations.  This led me to ask in this blog, “Is this the future of newspapers?“

Well as an update to that story, that answer appears to be, “No.”  NBCMIAMI.com reports the following (and they have a really clever photo to accompany it, so it’s worth the click):

Just two months after they put out their hand asking for online donations, the Miami Herald has apparently ended its request for voluntary contributions to its Website.

An article under “Breaking Business News” posted this past Saturdaystated that the push for handouts, which began in mid-December, was ending. A story posted Sunday by editor Anders Gyllenhaal said the “experiment with voluntary contributions from Web readers” was ending.

“The project taught us a lot about online reactions, but it’s unlikely to be an important part of our approach going forward,” Gyllenhaal wrote. “We thank the many readers who sent in contributions, suggestions and ideas as a part of this project.”

Any predictions as to what’s next for newspapers?