Imagine typing something into the search bar, finding a news article that would tell you everything you need to know and then — no intrusive paywall? It is too good to be true!
I do plenty of research online. Like many others, I like to stay informed, look up information for my classes, or maybe I am just in the mood to get the latest Fever game results. Without fail, the “$1 for a Year,”s and “Subscribe Now,”s begin to close in on my computer screen. And, I must admit, the length in which some of these sites go to trap you in this information purgatory is admirable. Sometimes it just blurs the rest of the article (which can be easily bypassed, but you did not hear it from me), offers you the article for free as long as you hand over your email for their mail lists or, in the most severe of cases, scrambles the entire article so it is illegible. Is journalism not, at its core, a public service? Nonetheless, this money grab and borderline gatekeeper plagues us all: paywalls.
As a lover and producer of news, I understand more than many that newspapers need to make money to stay in business. There are few left who pick up a tangible newspaper and read it, and circulation numbers of United States daily newspapers continues its steep drop year after year. Newspapers have to do something to stay afloat or print journalism dies. I support selling advertisements, digital subscriptions or even enforcing a (reasonable) limit on the amount of articles one can read without an account per day — I mean, there cannot be droves of people that read more than four to five articles from one news site a day casually, right? Even if you are like me and consume news regularly, I hop to different outlets depending on if I want Indiana news, national news or if I want to verify potentially skewed information.
Especially now, when the large majority of U.S. adults consume news through digital devices, the spread of misinformation is rapid and dangerous to true journalism. Social media apps like TikTok and X grow as a means of getting news, especially among my generation. Social media, although convenient, is also a major player in this spread of misinformation. In my experience on TikTok, someone could get the entire U.S. to argue whether or not the sky is actually blue if they had enough views. Combine the virality of social media-sourced news and true news being under lock and key and you have a democracy ripe for chaos and corruption.
The values of journalism are rooted in public service and utilitarian methods of conveying information — down to the style of our writing, the words we use and the ethics we (should) follow. If the core value of our field is to write for the people like you in a way easily understood, it does not make sense for “accessibly” written stories to then be inaccessible behind a paywall. We must make access to accurate reporting a norm, not a commodity. If not, I fear for the fate of the Fourth Estate.
