General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGannett newspapers pulling a fast one on non-subscribers.
Our local paper "The Sheboygan Press" is one.
What they do is cut off access to their digital edition to non-subscribers.
This has a twofold effect, 1. People who do not subscribe are cut off from local news.
2. It cuts off almost entirely the out-of-Sheboygan commenters.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Archae
(46,262 posts)The only alternative is the Milwaukee Urinal.
And the Urinal is so biased and corrupt they stink on ice.
We used to have a decent local AM radio station, WHBL.
But they've gone almost entirely to right-wing talk-radio, including Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and "Coast To Coast AM."
http://one.whbl.com/shared/airstaff/airstaff220.asp
woodsprite
(11,854 posts)Their website is crap. We subscribe to the paper version, but it doesn't give any privs that I've found on their website without paying additional. They went and changed their obit listings to a commercialized service which sucks too. It seems like its tied to Ancestry.com or something similar.
I, instead, have subscribed to the Newark Post on line. Thhhhppppp, Gannett!
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)I just clear out my cookies for that website when I reach the limit of free articles, and then I can access them again. I never comment, however.
pstokely
(10,511 posts)nt
spanone
(135,636 posts)real assholes on the editorial pages
they did the same thing here....i go online to the local teevee news apps....just as good as the gannett crap
frazzled
(18,402 posts)They do have to pay their reporters to go down to the City Hall and court houses and police stations to report on local news. They have to pay their tech people a wage to run the web site; and ad people to sell advertising; and editors. Papers are often unionized, so they are not getting cheap labor (I can't vouch for the Sheboygan Press, however). And they're probably not getting enough advertising revenue to cover all their costs.
You can't expect to get it free forever. (It's not a blog or board, where news stories to be commented on are cadged from real news sources). I always subscribe to the local paper in the city I'm living in (as well as the New York Times).
mythology
(9,527 posts)Given that subscriptions are down and putting content on the internet isn't free, and those pesky employees have grown rather used to eating and having a place to live, it only makes sense to derive revenue. The New York Times charges for content after the first 10 or 20 articles a month.
It's no different than if I were to complain that the cable company doesn't let me watch cable if I don't pay.