@Sheril

OK, so @TheGuardian @TheGuardian has subscribers but the content and access is all open... www.theguardian.com

@Sheril That is exactly the problem. The #farright and #rightextremist folks pour billions of money into propaganda so all their "information " is free to read but serious newspapers and portals have paywalls.

That's another reason why "Conservative" propaganda has such a success.

@Sheril

Even for those that can afford it, does not mean that it is reliable.

@Sheril

I would gladly subscribe, but papers sell what I read and for how long.

Until they verifiably so not do that, either dead trees or no subscriptions.

@Sheril It is a problem. That's why in addition to subscribing to my local newspaper I make a yearly donation to my local public broadcasting network, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting). Their website has no paywall.

https://www.opb.org/

Some other news sites without paywalls are NPR, PBS NewsHour and AP News.

https://www.npr.org/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/

https://apnews.com/

#OPB #PBS #NPR #News #Journalism

@Sheril
It's a huge problem.

I am often left out of discussions because I can't read the article and if I can't read the article, I can't intelligently discuss it.

I can not drive, so even getting to the public library to read it is a problem.

@Sheril What on earth makes you think commercial newspapers are free from misinformation and disinformation?

They print whatever will sell copies - or whatever line their owners are pushing.

@Sheril
Many public libraries offer access to newspapers, magazines, and online research with a library card.
In a quick search, I found Seattle and Los Angeles. I'm sure there are more.

Also, even my medium-sized county library offers Newsbank, i.e. access to many papers, local and international, with your library card number.

Libraries are the answer.

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/?p=AWNB

@Sheril The advertisements are much more profitable than the subscriptions. Subscriptions can end up being a net loss for the organization.

Low-cost subscriptions are frequently used as a method of obtaining salable information about the subscriber.

@Sheril Genuine question, what's the difference between a pay wall and having to pay for a hard copy back in the day?

Additionally, unfortunately disinformation and misinformation is also common in reputable media organisations. I don't mean this in a conspiracy theory way, but you often see press releases from special interest organisations rewritten as an article with no critical analysis.

@Sheril

Very true...

@Sheril

For the UK have a look at #BylineTimes

https://bylinetimes.com/about/

They give a lot of their content away and digital subscription is quite cheap

They also have a paper edition

Their investigative reporting has been 'recycled' by more well known media on multiple occasions.

As an aside one of its founders
@peterjukes is responsible for coming up with the name of a rather famous investigation organisation.. #bellingcat

See also @adambienkov

@Sheril Misinformation and disinformation are not free. Propaganda requires meticulous planning and coordination to be maximally effective. Those who stand to profit most from mis/disinformation are more than willing to pay whatever is necessary to get their message out to whoever needs to hear it.

"He who pays the piper calls the tune."

If the media is to serve the best interests of people, then people need to pay for it. Nothing's free.