[baddox]

> Since when do social norms and expectations involve getting journalists' work for free?

That's a false dichotomy. Websites for major news outlets have always been overwhelming "free" (as in, not behind a paywall, but they obviously try to monetize through ads).

[mikeash]

Yes, but the web is an extremely recent phenomenon relative to journalism in general, and journalism has historically been something where you had to pay to read.

[baddox]

That's true, but the medium's social norms tend to be stronger than the content's social norms. After all, the vast majority of web pages are free to view, and yet all the types of content on them were traditionally paid (because, for one thing, prior to the Internet most content was much more expensive to deliver).