# Do You Pay for Your News? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 14, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064 "2019-07-14T13:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/21 "2019-07-14T18:56:59Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I get my news from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), either online or TV. Me too. But I’m in the UK, so strictly my answer to the OP’s question is Yes, as I pay the [TV licence fee](https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence). But as I don’t buy (or read) a newspaper, I answered No. j ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/22 "2019-07-14T18:57:15Z")
I get the print NYT delivered, and I am glad to pay for their important journalism. I get the Sunday edition of the local paper, whose national articles are mostly reprinted from the Times. At this point supporting the truth is a patriotic obligation. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/23 "2019-07-14T19:08:18Z")
Yes,I subscribe to the digital edition of the New York Times. I also get the local newspaper delivered every day, for several reasons: 1. It’s the only source of local news, pathetic as it is. 2. I can actually read the physical newspaper faster than the online paper. I’m a fast reader, and I can typically read three stories in the time it takes one to download. I skip a lot of irrelevant stuff. 3. Relatedly, by seeing entire stories all at once, it’s easier to see if I’m interested in them. Online, all you see is the headline until you click to download the story. 4. I can’t do the crossword online. I need to do it with pencil on paper. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/24 "2019-07-14T19:56:58Z")
We subscribe to our local newspaper which also comes with an online edition. While it’s handy when travelling I still far prefer the hard copy for reading like previous posters have stated. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/25 "2019-07-14T20:03:19Z")
Hell No! It’s always been free. I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and my local news. For Free!!! My parents occasionally got newspaper subscriptions. We rarely read anything but the front page and comics. Dad would end the subscription after a few months. I had a Sunday subscription for awhile. Most of the sections never got read and I cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/26 "2019-07-14T20:18:59Z")
I answered no to the poll because I don’t subscribe to any newspapers, either in print or online, and I never have. However, my primary source of news is NPR, and I do contribute to my local station every year. So in a sense I do (voluntarily) pay for my news, but there wasn’t an option in the poll for that particular scenario. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/27 "2019-07-14T20:22:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > When trump was elected, I decided that one of the few things I, personally, could do was to support the press. So I subscribed to several papers. I already got the WSJ and our local daily delivered in hardcopy at home, but I also subscribed to the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the NYT (for pay) and to NPR, Reuters, and al Jazeera (free subscriptions.) I’ve since dropped The Guardian, but I’m still paying for the others. My phone gets a lot of news alerts. > > That was a political decision, not a practical one, though. There’s plenty of free news available. I like having my hardcopy paper to read on the commuter rail, and to use as packing material from time to time. But I’d be okay with just NPR and Reuters for news. > > Hmm, I suppose I do contribute to NPR, and I suppose I’ve done that for years. Does that count as paying for the new? Dunno. This pretty much me. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/28 "2019-07-14T20:30:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I had a Sunday subscription for awhile. Most of the sections never got read and I cancelled. I used to love reading the Sunday L.A. Times. I read just about everything but the classifieds. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/29 "2019-07-14T20:49:51Z")
I get most of my news here. 🙂 But I do pay for a subscription to the New York Times, Washington Post, and my local paper-- all online. Why? Because I support these organizations and I believe in paying for a service I use and value. (I also donate to the SDMB for that reason.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/30 "2019-07-14T21:01:27Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > No, except that I occasionally pick up my local Sunday paper. I can’t imagine ever paying for an online edition - you can’t even line a birdcage with it. Ditto and I voted no too because me buying 8 Sunday papers a year probably isn’t helping the newspaper business much. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/31 "2019-07-14T21:04:07Z")
I buy a semi-local daily paper and a local weekly. Both do some actual reporting and ain’t nobody else gonna do any local reporting in this area. I buy them in hardcopy because I find them easier and faster to read that way, and because I’ve got multiple uses for old newspaper. Neither of them has much national news (the weekly generally doesn’t have any) so I get most of that online, or sometimes on radio. I really ought to pay my NPR subscription, it’s lapsed. If there were one single other news source I wanted to read, or if several that I wanted to read had a cheap just-a-few-articles-and-no-apps version, there are several I might pay for; but I can’t afford to pay 100+ annually for each of them. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/32 "2019-07-14T21:05:51Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Hell No! > > It’s always been free. I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and my local news. For Free!!! > > My parents occasionally got newspaper subscriptions. We rarely read anything but the front page and comics. Dad would end the subscription after a few months. > > I had a Sunday subscription for awhile. Most of the sections never got read and I cancelled. Over the air news is still free. Newspapers still charge for subscriptions. What has changed? ---
**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:** [July 14, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/33 "2019-07-14T21:07:09Z")
No. We have birdcages, but purchase material for their pans, which is cheaper than subscribing to a paper. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/34 "2019-07-14T21:20:05Z")
If I find myself becoming a frequent reader of a news site, I support it. They can’t do this for free. I tend to look for the el cheapo subscription deals, since I don’t tend to rely overwhelmingly on any one news source. But I’m supporting journalism in a number of places, not just the NYT and the WaPo, but also places like the Daily Beast and TPM. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/35 "2019-07-14T21:20:17Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Over the air news is still free. Newspapers still charge for subscriptions. What has changed? Uh, news sites are going behind pay walls? Advertising pays for news reporting. I shouldn’t have too. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/36 "2019-07-14T21:47:57Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Uh, news sites are going behind pay walls? > > Advertising pays for news reporting. I shouldn’t have too. To. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/37 "2019-07-14T21:49:17Z")
We subscribe to the Washington Post, NY Times, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and make a monthly contribution to Pro Publication. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/38 "2019-07-14T21:50:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Uh, news sites are going behind pay walls? > > Advertising pays for news reporting. I shouldn’t have too. I’m not sure what this word salad has to do with what I said about over the air television and newspaper subscriptions. But to address what I think you’re trying to say about internet news services, obviously advertising doesn’t pay for it so they have to become subscription based. As you might recall, delivered newspapers for which you paid for a subscription also had advertising. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/39 "2019-07-14T22:24:49Z")
It still cling to my local daily newspaper that I’ve read for 45 years, since I could read. Although my budget is very limited and it’s not cheap, I’m still subscribing. It has a good mix of global, national and local news and all in all is a good read, and I simply can’t survive without my morning paper, in this regard I’m still old-fashioned. But it’s the only printed source of information left, I used to read a ton of magazines until 20 years ago or so, I got most of my info since then online. But you can pry my printed [Westfalenpost](https://www.wp.de/) from my cold dead hands. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064/40 "2019-07-15T02:20:32Z")
This is remarkable. We Dopers are better-read than most, yet few of us are willing to pay for the news. As for myself, I pay for the Kindle _Failing New York Times_, _The Economist_, and the dead-tree _Bucks County Herald._ Dollar-for-dollar, the _Times_ is your best deal for reading material. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pay-for-your-news/837064.md?page=3)