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Ask Slashdot: What Online News Is Worth Paying For?

Posted by Soulskill on from the pennies-on-the-page dept.

schnell writes "The increasing prevalence of online news paywalls and 'nag walls' (e.g. you can only read so many articles per month) has forced me to divide those websites into two categories: those that offer content that is unique or good enough to pay for vs. those that don't. Examples of the former for me included The Economist and Foreign Policy, while other previous favorite sites The New York Times and even my hometown Seattle Times have lost my online readership entirely. I also have a secret third category — sites that don't currently pay/nag wall, but I would pay for if I had to — Ars Technica and Long Form come to mind. What news/aggregation sites are other Slashdotters out there willing to pay for, and why? What sites that don't charge today would you pay for if you had to? Or, knowing this crowd, are the majority just opposed to paying for any web news content on principle?"

5 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. 50 cent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I get most of my news from the state funded TV network's news section of their web site. The abount I pay for this in taxes comes down to approximately $ 0.5 per day.

  2. Wikipedia by Camembert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is not really a news site, but I would pay for wikipedia if paywalled. I did voluntary pay a bit, twice. It is in general very useful for me. Otherwise perhaps occasionaly for an in depth article by a repute dpublisher (even then, max. $2), but not a subscription.

  3. The Guardian by raketman11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Guardian to give them financial support to keep real journalism going.

    --
    trans corpus mortuum
    1. Re:The Guardian by dataxtream · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agreed. They are the only mainstream media to support Edward Snowden and are withstanding a fierce backlash from the UK government. If we cannot fight for our freedom then we should at least support those that do.

  4. None by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I find it hilarious that news corps expect me to pay them to access their sites, when all they do is sit on their asses copying/pasting shit from AP, Reuters, or Bloomberg (for financial news) like everyone else does. No wonder many news outlets (both online and in print) are tanking.

    If they expect me to pay, I expect them to bring me some original, exclusive news coverage/articles that's not easily found elsewhere for free.