Paywalls for and against

For

What does David Simon mean by ‘slow suicide’?

David Simone: he talks about how Journalism is an actual career which requires a level of dedication and skills all leading to a persons career and the wages they make. If pay walls are not there then the journalists are being exploited and being taken advantage of. when he mentions
"slow suicide" he's talking about how the newspaper industry is slowly collapsing as it's accessible for everyone for free which isn't making  a profit for the industry but more of a loss.

What does he mean by saying anti-paywall people “don’t understand the first thing about actual journalism”?

when he says this he's talking about the public that perhaps don't understand and appreciate the hard work and lack of gratitude that journalists go through. As it costs money to hire specialised journalists and publish the news story itself. so due to modern consumers and advanced technology it's harder for the journalists as more news stories are having to be made independently. And consumers that don't want paywalls are unaware of this.

What does he mean by “journalism is a profession”?

By this he's talking about how it's an actual skilled career that people have and they deserve appreciation and good pay.

 What do you think made 1 million people pay for the NYT(New York Times)?

Against

What does he mean by “Band-Aid to cover a bullet hole”?

By the term 'Band-Aid to cover a bullet hole he means that the new consumers are not willing to pay that amount. And it should be presented to a variety of audiences not just one particular. perhaps he's talking about how the paywall will not be effective in any way and will just lose more customers/consumers.

How much would you pay for Facebook (or any other social network)? Why this much?

As social media has advanced so much and become more addictive for users, the younger generation in particular it would