> If sites needed their users to pay them, the quality of the content might go up dramatically What do you mean by "if"? There are already many sites that req

> If sites needed their users to pay them, the quality of the content might go up dramatically What do you mean by "if"? There are already many sites that require users to pay them (e.g. The New York Times) but everyone simply circumvents their paywalls. Every method that high-quality sites use to generate the revenue they need to operate is defeated either by ad blockers or someone reproducing their content outside their paywalls. You may be right that news and reporting are not viable, but it is a shame.