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The article is about a news organization offering its paper for free and only 44 signing up. Speaking for myself, I don't trust "free". Being offered a subscri

The article is about a news organization offering its paper for free and only 44 signing up. Speaking for myself, I don't trust "free". Being offered a subscription newspaper for free, I'd think it was a lie or that there was some kind of gotcha down the road since I know they cost money to produce.

nottorp 3y ago
It would be interesting to see how the offer was written. If they'd offer me FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME NOW I'd pass. If they'd say it's part of an experiment, maybe. But that would ruin the experiment.
Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago
Exactly this. Or I'd question what this 'news' really is. Someone has to be paying for it and what is it that they want or get of me reading their paper? It's theoretically possible that its a benevolent benefactor who genuinely wants to make the world better by funding journalism. But I doubt it.
amelius 3y ago
If it is free, then you are the product ...
- economicalidea 3y ago
  If it’s paid you are still the product just more valuable
  - beej71 3y ago
    I don't get this. I'm the product of my grocery store?
    - amelius 3y ago
      The line gets blurry. But it depends if you have a loyalty card. A grocery store is a market-place where many large companies can sell their stuff.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      Your grocery store is probably collecting data about you and making money from it. If so, then yes, you are the (or, more accurately, a) product. But at least you can foil a lot of that by putting your phone into airplane mode before getting anywhere near the store, paying in cash, and not using "loyalty" cards.
- msla 3y ago
  Yes. That's not new. There's a well-established business model for free weeklies: Advertising. Not adtech, which includes tracking, but simple advertising space sold to companies who want to reach the head-shop-and-granola crowd. Is this actually new to anyone? I can't imagine it is. Being "the product" is only horrible if you're being infringed upon (tracked, for example) in the process.
  - freeopinion 3y ago
    Our local newspaper is free to read. It sells advertising. Its advertisers are trying to reach a specific demographic. But they do not know every reader's shoe size, car problems, diet prefs, etc. I am reminded of watching Geritol ads as a youth. That was the price of enjoying The Lawrence Welk show. Saturday cartoons were paid for by Tony the Tiger. TV commercials were broadcast at a significantly higher volume than the content they were embedded into. They knew you were leaving the room during the commercial breaks. I think that most people don't mind that level of targeting or the printed ads in a newspaper. I agree with you that it becomes intolerable when the advertiser gets to know if you personally are leaving the room to run to the fridge or to run to the bathroom.
michaelt 3y ago
But it sounds like you read the linked article - a news report - for free before commenting? Plenty of cities have free newspapers given away at train stations and suchlike [1] - they're packed with adverts and owned by sketchy billionaires, of course, but so are most newspapers you pay for. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_newspaper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_newspaper
jowea 3y ago
I can believe a free newspaper but it's probably going to be more ads than content and 95%+ regurgitated content from other media and official announcements.
- prometheus76 3y ago
  And they'll sell all your contact information and viewing history.
- rascul 3y ago
  This is what I recall when I lived in an area and time that got a free newspaper. The daily papers often just sat in the driveway until they took the trash out, then they threw the papers away.
adolph 3y ago
Same with <.x • price> deals where you can't cancel without calling them (something I have on my todo list for the local newspaper).
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

nottorp 3y ago

It would be interesting to see how the offer was written. If they'd offer me FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME NOW I'd pass. If they'd say it's part of an experiment, maybe. But that would ruin the experiment.

Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago

Exactly this. Or I'd question what this 'news' really is. Someone has to be paying for it and what is it that they want or get of me reading their paper? It's theoretically possible that its a benevolent benefactor who genuinely wants to make the world better by funding journalism. But I doubt it.

amelius 3y ago

If it is free, then you are the product ...

economicalidea 3y ago
If it’s paid you are still the product just more valuable
- beej71 3y ago
  I don't get this. I'm the product of my grocery store?
  - amelius 3y ago
    The line gets blurry. But it depends if you have a loyalty card. A grocery store is a market-place where many large companies can sell their stuff.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Your grocery store is probably collecting data about you and making money from it. If so, then yes, you are the (or, more accurately, a) product. But at least you can foil a lot of that by putting your phone into airplane mode before getting anywhere near the store, paying in cash, and not using "loyalty" cards.
msla 3y ago
Yes. That's not new. There's a well-established business model for free weeklies: Advertising. Not adtech, which includes tracking, but simple advertising space sold to companies who want to reach the head-shop-and-granola crowd. Is this actually new to anyone? I can't imagine it is. Being "the product" is only horrible if you're being infringed upon (tracked, for example) in the process.
- freeopinion 3y ago
  Our local newspaper is free to read. It sells advertising. Its advertisers are trying to reach a specific demographic. But they do not know every reader's shoe size, car problems, diet prefs, etc. I am reminded of watching Geritol ads as a youth. That was the price of enjoying The Lawrence Welk show. Saturday cartoons were paid for by Tony the Tiger. TV commercials were broadcast at a significantly higher volume than the content they were embedded into. They knew you were leaving the room during the commercial breaks. I think that most people don't mind that level of targeting or the printed ads in a newspaper. I agree with you that it becomes intolerable when the advertiser gets to know if you personally are leaving the room to run to the fridge or to run to the bathroom.

michaelt 3y ago

But it sounds like you read the linked article - a news report - for free before commenting? Plenty of cities have free newspapers given away at train stations and suchlike [1] - they're packed with adverts and owned by sketchy billionaires, of course, but so are most newspapers you pay for. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_newspaper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_newspaper

jowea 3y ago

I can believe a free newspaper but it's probably going to be more ads than content and 95%+ regurgitated content from other media and official announcements.

prometheus76 3y ago
And they'll sell all your contact information and viewing history.
rascul 3y ago
This is what I recall when I lived in an area and time that got a free newspaper. The daily papers often just sat in the driveway until they took the trash out, then they threw the papers away.

adolph 3y ago

Same with <.x • price> deals where you can't cancel without calling them (something I have on my todo list for the local newspaper).

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]