[withinboredom]

Maybe. I refuse to pay for news though, on principle. I grew up with my dad working for the newspaper (in sales) and as far as I'm concerned, they make plenty of money through those channels and they don't need my money. If they need my money, then they're doing something wrong, got greedy, are "too big for their britches" (so to speak), or some combination of the above.

Other people feel differently, and that's fine.

[hotpotamus]

My mother has worked in local journalism for half a century - mostly radio, but some newspaper and the very occasional TV appearance. If they're making a lot of money, she sure isn't seeing it. Maybe whatever private equity company that owns the station this year is doing well, but they're not known for sharing with the other boys and girls so to speak. It's a shame because from what I can tell, she was a very good reporter but the role is reduced to a shadow of what it was when I was a kid. Obviously they're now talking about replacing her with AI, and she's about ready for a severance check I think.

[withinboredom]

I'd feel differently if and when journalism is as transparent about where the money goes (show the budget, even if just %'s). If I knew that my $10 subscription was actually going to journalism ... I'd pay $10.

But it's not transparent, and those sales guys/gals are making bank and who knows where the money is actually going. Clearly, not the journalists.

[earthscienceman]

I understand this sentiment but it's extremely short sighted. Paying for news is about incentives. Much like Google having poor incentives to provide good unbiased search functionality based on the fact that their revenue comes from advertising, news work poorly aligns with advertising incentives also.

Whether you contribute to that or not is your choice.

[spondylosaurus]

One reason I subscribe to the New Yorker (beyond enjoying their content) is that they have legendarily high standards around fact-checking, which isn't something you can maintain unless you're paying people to do it. So I'd like to help them continue paying the people who do it.

[bobsmooth]

HNers will pay $10 a month for a google replacement but won't support the foundation of democracy for a few bucks.