3 ms·

Is this how we keep the poor uninformed?

• thisone 9y ago
  simply those who have not yet learned how to 'open in incognito window'
• thebiglebrewski 9y ago
  Oh man I think about this all of the time....
• pzone 9y ago
  It's still more available and affordable than paper subscriptions of the past.
• croon 9y ago
  No, that is done by buying up most local tv stations and airing propaganda.
• danso 9y ago
  "we"?
• forapurpose 9y ago
  It's a great point. The article and much of the discussion frame these issues around business and profitability, but the NYT's mission is to inform the public not to make lots of money. Paywalls must, IMHO, greatly limit the success of that mission. No doubt they will soon publish another article about how misinformed the public is. The same applies to scientific publishers. The mission of science is to advance and disseminate knowledge, but only the elite few - the professional researchers with funding - can access scientific knowledge. Scientists complain that the public believes anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers, but then deny them access to the science. It seems that even as late as 2017, these old institutions haven't adjusted to the Internet's free distribution; they still try to force their square old pay-for-distribution models, which made sense created when paper had to be printed and shipped, into the round holes - or maybe better, the pressureless vacuum - of the Internet. From the point of view of their missions, to disseminate knowledge, the Internet is a fantasy too good to even imagine - free, instant, global distribution to most of humanity - but still they can't see it. Perhaps institutions don't change with the times, they just die and are replaced by a new generation. We are patiently waiting for the dinosaurs to die out. They will die. And then we'll move into their homes. - Kurt Cobain