The Columbia Missourian – the paper produced by Mizzou journalism students in conjunction with a permanent staff – covers mid-Missouri news, as well as our state Capitol. It is a quality publication. Last week, briefly, it joined the ranks of papers erecting a paywall between journalism and readers.
Not a surprise. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch charges home subscribers $6.00 a month for ‘digital access’ – even when their neo-techs can’t get the system to accept an approved user name and password. The New York Times, Washington Post and even the Springfield News Leader limit access until an internet reader provides a major credit card.
Oh, the first week or month is always $1.00 (or, in the Springfield case 30¢ for the first month) but the cost for subsequent months mounts quickly. Even with the current NYT promo, after paying $52.00 for the first year the second jumps to $195.00.
Paywalls create, for me, two issues…
- The paywall forces newspapers to confront the most jarring problem of the
- Internet age: to charge your readers money, you have to offer them something that’s actually worth paying for.
True.
The reality is that 80% of current-events news is interchangeable, regardless of your source. If you’re looking for today’s top stories, you can pick from a limitless list of vendors and walk away with a very similar body of knowledge. If you run out of newspapers, try a TV network instead.
Kinda true. For example, you can always find Trump Tweets on the web.
Yet, some of that 20% remainder is important. If all the Missouri papers covering the Capitol have paywalls, then detailed content – such as that special House committee’s work on former Governor SEAL – largely disappears from view. Imagine if the only reporting generally available on Eric Greitens came from 10 second sound bites, always ending with his denial. My guess is that Mike Parson would be spending this October down on the ranch.
My second issue: where you don’t find paywalls…
BREAKING: Man Steps Forward with Sexual Assault Allegations against
Sen. Cory Booker — With Lawyer’s Response to Gateway Pundit
Yes, the St. Louis publication proclaiming We report the truth – and leave the Russia – Collusion fairy tale to the Conspiracy media doesn’t have a paywall but they do have a White House correspondent.
Now, need I talk about Alex Jones and Infowars ?
The alt-right world thrives on free sites. Free from paywalls, free from reality. They proudly share their “news.” The fight for reality must be fought every day, every minute. Those of us trying to shine a light on truth get hobbled when objective information hides behind barriers. Yes, news is a business…All the ads cluttering even paywalled sites reinforces that fact. Organizations which can’t make money can’t report.
Alas, this current business model of restricting access to gather pennies subverts the primary reason news organizations exist: to shine a light on what’s hidden and unknown.
Pretty soon truth may become a luxury purchase. That’s not good.
One good thing: the Columbia Missourian seems to have abandoned the paywall trap…at least today.
Running errands this morning I stopped at a male-centric retailer. The place the product I wanted should have been had the wrong thing there. I asked an older, manager type about that…
“Who’s the f@#$&^% idiot who stocked this s*&$?” he asked. “Be more specific” replied a voice from the back. “This place is full of f@#$&^% idiots.”
Kinda like conversations in the Trump White House.
Glenn
To be fair, the St. Louis Post Dispatch DOES allow you to read their articles on STLTODAY.com if you don’t block their advertisers… which I do. I guess that wasn’t an option in the print-only days.