From Pew Research: Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls

[TheProle]

The dismal failure of digital media monetization...

So basically people just walk away from paywalls, get the "same" info from other "outlets" or just check out over lack of interest.

Meanwhile, "influencers" cherry-pick from real journalism, slap a click-baity headline on it and use it to shape half-baked partisan narratives to make that sweet, sweet lucre from views and flood the internet with slop.

Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls

The survey also asked anyone who said they ever come across paywalls what they typically do first when that happens.

Just 1% say they pay for access when they come across an article that requires payment.

The most common reaction is that people seek the information somewhere else (53%). About a third (32%) say they typically give up on accessing the information.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/06/24/few-americans-pay-for-news-when-they-encounter-paywalls/

[PuraVidaDreamin]

1. No duh!

I cannot afford all the trusted sources I know.

And that is just how those magots like it.

[UTUSN]

2. Ya beat me to it!

[Skittles]

3. WHEN will they do the pay-per-article thing Dan Rather mentioned a long time ago

(I mean like, it would cost a few cents) - there are a LOT of articles I wish I could read but I cannot pay for dozens of "subscriptions"

[AStern]

6. Not sure where you live but have you tried your local library's website?

Some have e-media options that include major newspapers.

[Skittles]

7. no but I will check into that

thanks!

[intheflow]

12. This is true!

I’m a librarian and with our databases you can read the daily paper, the NYT, and the Boston Globe the day they come out.

[Skittles]

13. another reason why I support our local libraries!

[canetoad]

4. I'm aware this is slightly dishonest

I use NoScript - a browser extension that prevents various server-side scripts from running when a site loads. For many paywalled news sites, I can still read the text; some images and things like surveys (ugh), videos and other non-text elements may or may not appear. Doesn't really matter if all you want is the actual news.

This does not work on every site; I can't read any murdoch sites but then I don't want to. There are a few others but not enough to cut me off from up to date news. Sometimes the settings need to be tweaked a bit and the learning curve can look daunting but it's really not difficult and freely available on browser extension pages.

[purple_haze]

5. 12ft.io has entered the chat

[flvegan]

8. Enshittification. n/t

[mopinko]

9. i wonder if this is worse lately.

i'm sure i'm not the only person sick of msm bullshit. cancelled my wapo, and dont even want to give my email to read a gift nyt article.
meanwhile the propaganda is free.

imho giving a certain number of freebies is smart business, but that's getting rare.

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. Democracy Dies behind paywalls

But conspiracy and propaganda sites are almost always free

[Retrograde]

11. Sun slated to rise in east tomorrow (n/t)