The Patreon approach works for non-news content. But stuff like the Ezra Klein show is a mix -- some of it is more evergreen content (interviews with authors),

The Patreon approach works for non-news content. But stuff like the Ezra Klein show is a mix -- some of it is more evergreen content (interviews with authors), but there's also a lot of stuff that is topical for the specific week. Getting it a week late, you might as well not get it at all. The back catalog approach is consistent with the "news archives" approach that a lot of newspapers and magazines have -- even if you're allowed to access a certain number of free stories per month, the "archives" are all locked behind a paywall. I think it makes sense -- the most-shared episode is probably always going to be within the most recent two, while it's the real fans who are going to go through the whole back catalog and are willing to pay.