Trustworthy information is worth paying for, but that’s not the only reason to respect the need for publications and websites’ to put up paywalls. Writers, editors and designers – just like all of us – need to pay their mortgages and put food on the table.
It seems obvious, but indignant reactions – when a site that didn’t charge before starts to or a link to a newspaper requires a subscriptions – persist. There is still a tendency for people to think everything on the internet should be free. I suppose because a lot of still is – or seems to be.
In reality, nothing is free. It all takes time and effort on the part of the creators and the consumers, even if they are able to access sites without paying, are usually still paying in other ways. As you know.
A local online gardening publication, Buffalo-Niagara Gardening, recently set a subscription price for the first time. It wasn’t a site I checked too often, but it has good, knowledgeable how-to and, always, comprehensive listings of classes and events. I guess I don’t check because I rarely have time for classes – as much as I might benefit – and, as a media person, I already get all the event info.
But I know all too well what it takes to keep something like that going. Producing the content is enough work, but getting advertisers to support the work is a whole other job. The publisher of B-NG was also the editor, writer and advertising rep. That is not sustainable and it’s amazing that she was able to keep it going as long as she did – 14 years – without asking for subscriptions.
Now she has – for as little as $23 a year – and I signed up immediately. Whether I read it or not, it’s worth it to keep fact-based gardening information alive in our area. Our newspaper, like most, no longer has a gardening columnist. For some reason, legacy media doesn’t seem too interested in gardening. It’s a big interest among readers, at least here. We have very active Facebook groups full of local gardeners, not to mention all the walks and tours.
But good info that’s relevant for the region is hard to come by. The social media groups revel in the ridiculous and I’ve given up trying to correct any of it – though they are good for swaps and giveaways.
I subscribe to six newspapers, counting the one I work for, six Patreon or Substack accounts, most written by former reporters and other print writers, a local nonprofit online news site, and my local public radio station. We will soon have a presidential administration that embraces statements like “legacy media must die” and vows revenge against reporting it doesn’t like, so I’m doing my best to support fact-based media produced by people with integrity.
Because the alternative doesn’t look good.