> The optimal way to signal that you do is to subscribe. Agreed. > I think I'm paying for high-quality journalism, unbiased stories, and deep reporting. It ha

> The optimal way to signal that you do is to subscribe. Agreed. > I think I'm paying for high-quality journalism, unbiased stories, and deep reporting. It happens to be delivered in a convenient package of pages bound with a stable and mailed. What do you think you (or others) are paying for? You're not paying for that. Anyone can get that for free. You're donating your money to them so they can continue to do their work. You don't actually want what they're selling, you just want them to continue producing the stuff that they give away to everyone. Sounds like a non-profit to me. High-quality journalism isn't in much trouble. People are willing to pay for it (and my job security relies on that fact), but most publications are using a psychologically suboptimal way to get that money. If they explicitly said, "Donate money to us or buy a subscription so we can keep producing great journalism", they'd probably be more successful.