An interesting slant - from Yahoo/Agence France Presse:
Free news gets scarcer as paywalls tighten
For those looking for free news online, the search is becoming harder.
Tougher restrictions on online content have boosted digital paid subscriptions at many news organizations, amid a growing trend keeping content behind a "paywall."
Free news has by no means disappeared, but recent moves by media groups and Facebook and Google supporting paid subscriptions is forcing free-riders to scramble.
For some analysts, the trend reflects a normalization of a situation that has existed since the early internet days that enabled consumers to get accustomed to the notion of free online content.
"I think there is a definite trend for people to start paying for at least one news source," said Rebecca Lieb, an analyst who follows digital media for Kaleido Insights.
Or, people are just fed up with the quality of the reporting and whenever they find a paywall at a place that used to be free, they simply click NEXT and move on. Personally, I find that the Google Chrome Incognito window works great on most stuff that I read. There are also Chrome plug-ins that work to defeat the curtains in front of the news page.
If the publishers made content that we wanted to read, then maybe the subscription model would work and not be viewed as an obstruction. The free version of Ccleaner works great on sites that let you have X number of page-views per month/week/etc... Run it to reset the cookies. Make sure when installing to uncheck the box to install the anti-virus software.
Leave a comment