# CNN has outsmarted itself
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 13, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587 "2024-12-13T02:38:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/1 "2024-12-13T02:38:25Z")
I asked about national news sites that are still free a few weeks ago. But I have noticed a way around CNN’s block. When you click on the headline to read an article the popup tells you to sign up for a membership. But if you right click on the headline you will find a selection of other web sites with the same headline. So you can read the article for free at a competitor and browse their advertising instead of CNN’s. LOL
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/2 "2024-12-13T04:56:54Z")
My local paper has a paywall, but I get their headlines on facebook. 99% of the time, I can google a few keywords and get the story on any of a dozen websites. Usually I can just copy the text right off of facebook
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/3 "2024-12-13T05:36:45Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> But I have noticed a way around CNN’s block.
What block? I have no problem getting access to all the articles on CNN.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/4 "2024-12-13T10:59:26Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> But if you right click on the headline you will find a selection of other web sites with the same headline.
Those items in your right-click menu are generated by some feature of your browser doing a search elsewhere. CNN isn’t providing those to you.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/5 "2024-12-13T11:09:36Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What block? I have no problem getting access to all the articles on CNN.
I have no issue getting access on my phone to all the articals, but on my work laptop I can only read three or four until it shuts me down and ask me to sign as a subscriber. Which I just ignore and go elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/6 "2024-12-13T12:23:33Z")
I have used CNN as my homepage for years and now they have erected the paywall. I just shifted my page to AP. They ask for donations once in a while but still allow me to just read the articles
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/7 "2024-12-13T12:55:22Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> on my work laptop I can only read three or four until it shuts me down and ask me to sign as a subscriber.
Thanks. That must be new, and lately I don’t access CNN very much anyway. In fact, my visits have intentionally been quite rare ever since around November 5. 😉
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### Author:  [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/8 "2024-12-13T14:03:08Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What block? I have no problem getting access to all the articles on CNN.
Same. I’ve never been prompted to subscribe to anything at CNN.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/9 "2024-12-13T16:38:48Z")
I’m surprised that CNN didn’t use the formula of putting increasing numbers of articles on “For Subscribers Only” status (as the ESPN and Sports Illustrated websites have done) instead of going straight to demanding subscriptions after a minimal number of articles are viewed.
We subscribe to a couple of newspapers’ online editions, but there’s no way I’ll pay for CNN. Good luck to them, but it isn’t happening.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/10 "2024-12-13T16:48:41Z")
What the OP is suggesting (Googling the headline of a paywalled story for other, un-paywalled sites carrying the same story) has worked for me when I see an interesting story on the Wall Street Journal site.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/11 "2024-12-13T16:57:04Z")
The Edge browser optionally pops up a news page when you request a new tab, and among all the clickbait are sometimes some worthwhile stories. What I like about it is that some of the stories are from paywalled sites, but not paywalled when embedded in the MSN site.
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-has-outsmarted-itself/1011587/12 "2024-12-13T20:33:07Z")
CNN has a number of articles marked “For subscribers only”. Example: [https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/13/us/dinner-party-hosting-wellness-cec/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/13/us/dinner-party-hosting-wellness-cec/index.html)
They also have a limit on the number of free articles you can view in a day (which is ridiculously easy to defeat).
This all started a couple of months ago.