# Chicago Sun-Times (Straight Dope's Owner) Has Dropped Its Paywall **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 6, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832 "2022-10-06T18:18:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/1 "2022-10-06T18:18:39Z")
> **[The Sun-Times’ new chapter: Our digital content is now free for everyone](https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2022/10/6/23389729/paywall-sun-times-dropping-news-journalism-nykia-wright-jennifer-kho-celeste-lecompte)** > > We’re dropping our paywall and making it free to read the news — but we’re still counting on your support. The paper is at: > **[Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago news, sports, politics, entertainment](https://chicago.suntimes.com/)** > > Chicago News, Sports, Politics, Entertainment, Weather and More Any comments as to whether this newspaper would be of any interest to those outside the Chicago metropolitan area? PS. I’m a bit surprised no one has mentioned this. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/2 "2022-10-06T18:23:13Z")
Good, I hope more media organizations follow this model. Non-profit journalism, imo, is the future of journalism. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/3 "2022-10-06T18:33:09Z")
I can see non-profit journalism being the future - but dropping the paywall goes beyond that. Money has to come from somewhere to pay the reporters - and I’d be really surprised if they can survive on donations and whatever they can get in ad revenue with the much lower subscriber numbers they will have. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/4 "2022-10-06T18:38:10Z")
Sun Times is owned by Chicago Public Media, which owns WBEZ, the local NPR affiliate. > **[Public Radio Owner Buys Sun-Times in Big Chicago Media Deal](https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2022-01-31/public-radio-owner-buys-sun-times-in-big-chicago-media-deal#:~:text=Chicago%20Public%20Media%2C%20which%20owns,to%20the%20mid%2D19th%20century)** > > The combination of two storied Chicago news brands has created one of the country’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. I know nothing really about either. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/5 "2022-10-06T18:40:43Z")
Most major newspaper paywalls have been more show than substance (I’m always slightly embarrassed for the people who respond to a nytimes/wapo/WSJ link with an incorrect post that they can’t access the content) for years, but I don’t know if the Sun-Times’ was a real wall or not. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/6 "2022-10-06T19:49:07Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I’m always slightly embarrassed for the people who respond to a nytimes/wapo/WSJ link with an incorrect post that they can’t access the content Enlighten the techno-peasant: how? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/7 "2022-10-06T20:24:31Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Enlighten the techno-peasant: how? Let’s not have any how-to posts on how to bypass paywalls, please. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/8 "2022-10-06T21:23:41Z")
Non- profits don’t just get funding from individual donations, a good amount can come from grants. There a lot of money to be had out there from foundations, especially, i would imagine, for something as important as good quality journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/9 "2022-10-06T21:41:53Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Let’s not have any how-to posts on how to bypass paywalls, please. Sorry. From the way it was put forward, it sounded as if it was an okay thing. My apologies. (I subscribe to NYT and WaPo, so it was more just curiousity). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/10 "2022-10-07T00:59:46Z")
This is pretty good news. From looking at their front page it looks like they don’t have a lot of national coverage. If they did I would be likely to donate. This is the first time I’ve been to their front page, but the front page, like The Guardian, is both fast, easy, convenient, and uncluttered-looking. With paywalls you either have to juggle a lot of subscriptions or take time to find other means, and ad-supported front pages are chintzy and slow. The Guardian is the only subscription I’ve had. Their website has a must better look and feel than even the paywalled websites in America. I want to support this no hassle journalism, so I chuck them $10 every couple years or so. It is not a lot but then again I only read a handful of articles a year. I may visit the C-S-T a few more times over the next few weeks to see how it looks and if it still feels worth it, I may do the same even though again I might only read a few articles a year. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/11 "2022-10-07T01:27:57Z")
This is good news. I subscribe to WSJ and it’s not cheap. I am annoyed when I get blocked from others’ paywalls. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/12 "2022-10-07T02:13:09Z")
I’ll be surprised if the Sun-Times hasn’t accelerated its march toward oblivion with this move. I’m not surprised that so many people still think they’re entitled to useful and important news articles and analysis for free. That attitude leads inevitably to more and more useless clickbait instead of quality journalism. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-sun-times-straight-dopes-owner-has-dropped-its-paywall/972832/13 "2022-10-07T04:28:27Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Sun Times is owned by Chicago Public Media, which owns WBEZ, the local NPR affiliate. The Chicago Sun-Times is much more sensationalistic than the Chicago Tribune. It’s better than the NY Post, but not by much. It used to be a much more reputable paper, but Times have changed.