Are you buying the articles? (What's the value?)

[PhillyCoach]

Just went to Nan's great Link's post. Thanks Nan for doing the leg work. Maybe it's me, but it seems more media outlets are charging for the information (articles.) Are you paying the piper? I am not. Whether it is the inconvenience (give me all your personal info to get registered) or the inconvenience of paying the 17 cents or 75 cents or the inconvenience of (Did I say inconvenience again.) I was a paper boy in Philly (The Bulletin, which was an afternoon paper) and I am not paying and will not get involved in the inconvenient situation.

Part too (for Kibitzer & Co.) I don't think the articles are worth the money (17cents?) and definitely not the inconvenience. This is my first thread created and submitted so here is what pushed me over the edge.

The Republican put out an article "5 questions for UConn women." The lead or teaser (nah!) said the first big question was whether Nurse could bring into this season her tremendous, over the top, outstanding, and stupendous summer experience--scoring 33 on the USA--etc.

I'll keep this short to finish. This is not a big question for me. All I know and care about is--Is Nurse better than last year? Of course she is! NEXT! It was clear the article was not worth 17 cents.

 

[Sonny44]

Just went to Nan's great Link's post. Thanks Nan for doing the leg work. Maybe it's me, but it seems more media outlets are charging for the information (articles.) Are you paying the piper? I am not. Whether it is the inconvenience (give me all your personal info to get registered) or the inconvenience of paying the 17 cents or 75 cents or the inconvenience of (Did I say inconvenience again.) I was a paper boy in Philly (The Bulletin, which was an afternoon paper) and I am not paying and will not get involved in the inconvenient situation.

Part too (for Kibitzer & Co.) I don't think the articles are worth the money (17cents?) and definitely not the inconvenience. This is my first thread created and submitted so here is what pushed me over the edge.

The Republican put out an article "5 questions for UConn women." The lead or teaser (nah!) said the first big question was whether Nurse could bring into this season her tremendous, over the top, outstanding, and stupendous summer experience--scoring 33 on the USA--etc.

I'll keep this short to finish. This is not a big question for me. All I know and care about is--Is Nurse better than last year? Of course she is! NEXT! It was clear the article was not worth 17 cents.

I agree. Everything of value gets to the Boneyard anyway.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

For me it's a difficult and annoying question. I do believe a thriving free press is vital to an informed citizenry and true democracy. Of course, we have watched local reporting in all but a few cities relegated to obituaries and the police blotter. It has become clear that other forms of news media are both slanted and cowed. This subscription thing for papers like the Courant does not offer much value. Were I local I'd have a paper subscription because I still like the tactile process, my brother in law is in the paper industry and the paper is handy for fish guts and catching paint drips.

 

[UcMiami]

RMT - I agree whole heartedly with your first statement regarding a vibrant press, and have no problem with newspapers using on-line subscriptions as another revenue source - it costs money to produce their product and they should be able to charge for it in any form they provide it.*
I also agree with the tactile pleasure of reading material - newspapers, books, etc. Unfortunately for me, with the amount of travel I do, the process of starting and stopping subscriptions became too complicated and inefficient, and frequently ineffective - after I cancelled the Miami Herald for example, I continued to receive the paper from my local deliverer for over a year!
For Uconn news, I find most of the time the local reporting is repetitive - very few of the media interactions are 'exclusive' so the better quotes appear across the news outlets. The blogs tend to be more specialized and I do read everything that I can access for free, but usually just pass on the rest.

* I agree also that with the consolidation of newspapers into national and international corporations, the quantity of local and regional reporting has really suffered - as corporate bosses look only at the bottom line, staffs have shrunk and the use of corporate news feeds has become standard. It is short sighted thinking as the less unique a newspaper becomes, the less reason for people to subscribe and the less money available to continue any local quality reporting.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Simple answer - you get what you don't pay for.

You don't pay for Nan's time gathering the links. You don't pay to read the articles that folks who ARE paid write.

So you don't get to complain about poor coverage or poor fact-checking.

 

[JavaMan]

If you become the fastest gun in your town, you can read just about anything you want.

Ctrl A (select all), Ctrl C (copy), switch to a word processing program, then Ctrl V (paste), then read.

Of course this all depends on what gun you're using and how fast you can shoot with Ctrl A when the page starts to load. Even if the pay-wall opens on top of what you selected, you can still use Ctrl C to copy your selection.

Above example is with a Windows operating system and an actual keyboard (you can't become the fastest gun with an on-screen keyboard).

As long as this loop-hole is left open it is going to be exploited. I have only run across one or two who have invested in the technology to close this hole on their site.

IMHO, all general news outlet stories should never be behind a pay-wall. There is just too much competition for readership. They can tick off readers for just so long, eventually 10% will pay and the other 90% will go elsewhere. Many outlets have employed pay-walls, fallen further behind, and eventually reversed their decision and completely eliminated them. Advertising options and schemes are plentiful enough and varied enough to satisfy necessary revenue needs--if their product is good enough, of course!

Happy Reading!

 

[Kibitzer]

Just went to Nan's great Link's post. Thanks Nan for doing the leg work.information (articles.) Are you paying the piper? I am not.

Part too (for Kibitzer & Co.) I don't think the articles are worth the money (17cents?) and definitely not the inconvenience.

I happen to share your sentiments. I guess I should get into the spirit of your comments and say: "Me, two!"

 

[iri10]

If you become the fastest gun in your town, you can read just about anything you want.

Ctrl A (select all), Ctrl C (copy), switch to a word processing program, then Ctrl V (paste), then read.

Yep. Another loophole is to search for the article through Google. A lot of paywall news stories will let a person read them if they go through a Google link, vs. through a direct link. And using your browser's "private browsing" mode can help as well, to confound cookie-based attempts to track how many articles you've been viewing.