# Access to information vs. Media profit **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627 "2020-03-17T03:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/1 "2020-03-17T03:21:55Z")
I just tried to google some up-to-date Covid facts. Site after site said “turn off adblocker”, or “log in or subscribe”. At the very least, if this an emergency, media profiteering ought to be curbed, so the public has access to information. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/2 "2020-03-17T03:32:29Z")
Just go to the CDC’s site. It’s free. And, it’s hardly “profiteering” to expect that commercial news outlets would like you to pay them for the work they are doing - how else are they supposed to stay in business? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/3 "2020-03-17T03:47:32Z")
Turning off your adblocker costs you nothing. I routinely do this on sites I deem to be trustworthy and have yet to catch anything from the ads. The ads aren’t even annoying. We lived for years and years with ads and we were fine. We can do it again in exchange for well-researched and trustworthy information. I mean, have you read a newspaper lately? 75% ads AND you gotta pay to get it out of the box. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/4 "2020-03-17T07:24:05Z")
Disable JavaScript via browser. It might disable some videos but you’ll get the entire article without ads. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/5 "2020-03-17T10:57:45Z")
NYTimes and WaPo are providing free corona news. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/6 "2020-03-17T12:19:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I just tried to google some up-to-date Covid facts. Site after site said “turn off adblocker”, or “log in or subscribe”. At the very least, if this an emergency, media profiteering ought to be curbed, so the public has access to information. You need to work on your googling game, there’s lots of free information out there. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/7 "2020-03-17T12:58:18Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Just go to the CDC’s site. > It’s free. > > And, it’s hardly “profiteering” to expect that commercial news outlets would like you to pay them for the work they are doing - how else are they supposed to stay in business? This. Sites and the people who run them can’t afford to do what they do for free, but you can decide whether you want to use the ones that are paid for by tax dollars, the ones that are paid for by ad revenue, or the ones that are paid for by subscriptions. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/8 "2020-03-18T03:07:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > NYTimes and WaPo are providing free corona news. Which is exactly what i was suggesting they ought to do, and now they did. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/9 "2020-03-19T03:21:44Z")
Commercial media in the US survive by grabbing eyeballs to sell to advertisers. The eyeballs a network, syndicate, or outlet can grab are its only asset. Fewer people consume “conservative” media than not so yes, there’s a liberal bias because audience bias. Even “conservatives” now find virus news compelling, maybe because their noxious old asses are at stake. Mainstream media offering “free” news to the dumb and wise alike is only good marketing. BTW the sites derided by Tramp as “fake news” are making good money. He funnels eyeballs their way. Funny. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/10 "2020-03-19T10:40:56Z")
> [@naita](#): > > You need to work on your googling game, there’s lots of free information out there. Yep, this is purely a don’t-know-how-to-internet user problem. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/11 "2020-03-19T11:24:33Z")
I would, instead, call it a ‘don’t want to pay for what I want’ problem. Yes, adblockers exist. And so do ways around them. But there’s a reason we’re seeing fewer and fewer dollars in journalism and that’s the now-everywhere expectation that information should be free even though it’s not free to gather it. In short, you are not entitled to someone else’s time and effort and it’s foolish of you to assume that you are. Absent a wholesale change in the United States media structure a la establishing an equivalent to the BBC - taxpayer funded - media needs the dollars those ads bring in. Without them they’ll eventually go away. Hell, we see the same thing right here on the SDMB. How many of our posters are using adblockers even though we know every single dollar is needed. Yes, you can say the ads are bad. I get it. But if there were more eyeballs seeing them we’d get better ads. It’s a vicious circle that leads to destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/12 "2020-03-19T12:19:35Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Hell, we see the same thing right here on the SDMB. How many of our posters are using adblockers even though we know every single dollar is needed. Yes, you can say the ads are bad. I get it. But if there were more eyeballs seeing them we’d get better ads. It’s a vicious circle that leads to destruction. I can say the SMDB ads are intrusive malware and you take a gamble every time you allow one through. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/13 "2020-03-19T13:01:27Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I can say the SMDB ads are intrusive malware and you take a gamble every time you allow one through. This. Exactly. How the fuck is this not clearly obvious? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/14 "2020-03-19T13:51:02Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Which is exactly what i was suggesting they ought to do, and now they did. Thank you. They did it a week before you posted the OP. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/15 "2020-03-19T14:46:07Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > They did it a week before you posted the OP. I read somewhere that they are the largest employers of precogs in North America. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-to-information-vs-media-profit/849627/16 "2020-03-19T14:55:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I read somewhere that they are the largest employers of precogs in North America. Lol!