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I'm starting to fear that the only publications to survive will be pure clickbait.

by Natsu 12y ago

Arnt 12y ago
Some do well with real content. Economist is well known on HN. But the Economist charges a fee. In .de, SZ, Zeit and Spiegel appear to do tolerably. (I subscribe to the first of the three.) Two of them charge real money, though, and perhaps the third too, I wouldn't know. The Germans have a proverb for this. Wer zahlt, schafft an. Liberally translated: Who pays, decides what's paid for.
- iron_ball 12y ago
  The English proverb would be "who pays the piper picks the tune."
  - Arnt 12y ago
    Very apt. Thanks.
  - mturmon 12y ago
    There is also the debased version of the golden rule. The golden rule being, of course, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The debased version being, "Who has the gold, makes the rules." (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/11/has-gold/ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/11/has-gold/) Sometimes in gloomier moments, I am reminded of the gap between the two.
danieldk 12y ago
That's not necessary, LWN.net (Linux Weekly News) is an excellent site with in-depth articles. It is funded by subscribers, and it seems to work relatively well for a long period already: http://lwn.net/ http://lwn.net/
- filmgirlcw 12y ago
  Don't confuse a lifestyle business that people do as a labor of love with a successful full media organization that can afford to pay people salaries and benefits. Not diminishing LWN, but it's not the same as a Dr. Dobb's or GigaOm. Also, most successful smaller media publishers who are not purely ad-based have diversified into other areas.TidBITS is a smaller operation and can pay some salaries, but they supplement with their fantastic book business too. They diversify and have built what they can sustain
- dredmorbius 12y ago
  Jon Corbet's been pretty open that LWN's at best barely broken even, if that. Though last I recall his talking about this was a couple of years ago. I've actually drifted off it in the past few years largely as I'm simply not tracking Linux-related stuff all that closely any more. Though for that, LWN is absolutely excellent. It's certainly seen numerous other contenders buried.
nfoz 12y ago
Personally I like news media / journalism to be operated as non-profits funded by governments, foundations, and individual donors. I am happy to pay for content.

I'm starting to fear that the only publications to survive will be pure clickbait.

by Natsu 12y ago

I'm starting to fear that the only publications to survive will be pure clickbait.

Arnt 12y ago

Some do well with real content. Economist is well known on HN. But the Economist charges a fee. In .de, SZ, Zeit and Spiegel appear to do tolerably. (I subscribe to the first of the three.) Two of them charge real money, though, and perhaps the third too, I wouldn't know. The Germans have a proverb for this. Wer zahlt, schafft an. Liberally translated: Who pays, decides what's paid for.

iron_ball 12y ago
The English proverb would be "who pays the piper picks the tune."
- Arnt 12y ago
  Very apt. Thanks.
- mturmon 12y ago
  There is also the debased version of the golden rule. The golden rule being, of course, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The debased version being, "Who has the gold, makes the rules." (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/11/has-gold/ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/11/has-gold/) Sometimes in gloomier moments, I am reminded of the gap between the two.

danieldk 12y ago

That's not necessary, LWN.net (Linux Weekly News) is an excellent site with in-depth articles. It is funded by subscribers, and it seems to work relatively well for a long period already: http://lwn.net/ http://lwn.net/

filmgirlcw 12y ago
Don't confuse a lifestyle business that people do as a labor of love with a successful full media organization that can afford to pay people salaries and benefits. Not diminishing LWN, but it's not the same as a Dr. Dobb's or GigaOm. Also, most successful smaller media publishers who are not purely ad-based have diversified into other areas.TidBITS is a smaller operation and can pay some salaries, but they supplement with their fantastic book business too. They diversify and have built what they can sustain
dredmorbius 12y ago
Jon Corbet's been pretty open that LWN's at best barely broken even, if that. Though last I recall his talking about this was a couple of years ago. I've actually drifted off it in the past few years largely as I'm simply not tracking Linux-related stuff all that closely any more. Though for that, LWN is absolutely excellent. It's certainly seen numerous other contenders buried.

nfoz 12y ago

Personally I like news media / journalism to be operated as non-profits funded by governments, foundations, and individual donors. I am happy to pay for content.