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The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

currentaffairs.org

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Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#112
post #103
post #22

I just want Netflix for journalism. I don't want a super expensive sub to a dozen papers. I want one subscription, they all should be included (maybe offer different tiers if you are an arse) and it shouldn't be more than $20/month. Go.

You likely want Apple News+ [1] at just under $10 USD /mo - a single cost for a la carte access to a large pool of publications, basically the only premium subscription model that's going to be able to gain mainstream adoption. [1] https://www.apple.com/apple-news/

The difference is that it doesn't just work in my browser. I easily pay $20 USD per month to not have to be shown a paywall when I click a link from HN, but that isn't what is being offered. I don't want to have to use their app. I like my browser.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public broadcasting in Germany is no better than private media. In fact most topics are reported the same and even the opinion is the same. But even ignoring this, it is a big problem that publicly funded media is in direct economic competition with privately funded media. This is exacerbated by the official entertainment mission (Unterhaltungsauftrag[1]) and the usage of advertisement. [1]: https://www.die-medienans…

I'm German. Public broadcasting, including ARD/ZDF but also countless of local radio station is without a doubt significantly better in quality than BILD/RTL or other private tabloid media, and it's one of the reasons the country still has by and large a shared reality when it comes to political discussion. I don't think that they also provide entertainment is in any way problematic, because entertainment is part of…

Agree wholeheartedly. And I'd like to add that there is by no means a uniform opinion propagated. For example, the ARD (one of the major public broadcasting networks) hosts both the rather left-leaning "Monitor", and the more conservative "Report aus München". However, as you highlighted, they share a common understanding of the world, and therefore Germany doesn't suffer extreme polarisation.

(I'd argue that the fringes, as seen with the anti-lockdown demonstrations in Berlin recently, are actually sustained by newfangled social media.)

Links (German only, sorry):

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_(Fernsehmagazin)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Report_München

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#114
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK I subscribe to "The Week", which covers stories by reporting what different newspapers report. You don't get much in depth, but you do get a good cross-section of how stories are reported, and you get to remove headlines which is the source of 96% of the world's troubles.

Wow, that sounds wonderful. I hardly read Australian news, but I would subscribe to something like that for Australian News!

Austrailian version shut down in 2012, when it was attracting 28k issues a week.

UK version does fairly well, 3rd after Private Eye and Economist. They do a junior version for I guess 8-13 year olds too which is doing well too, so that's good.

Friend of mine runs a magazine aimed at people who like horses (typically well-to-do female over 35s) with c. 25,000 copies a week pre-covid. It was about 70:30 subscription. Subscription is up a little since covid, but newsstand sales are way down.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#115
post #3

I would be willing to pay an amount for better quality news than what can be found for free, however news outlets always seem to lean one way. I want somebody to just report and not tilt it in one direction.

"Objectivity" in journalism does not mean unbiased, or The Truth. Simple recipe to follow: - Show your work. - Cite your sources. - Corroborate. - Sign your name. - Admit your mistakes. Voila, you're a journalist.

> Cite your sources.

We're on the Internet. Link your sources or provide them as raw footage. At least it'd eliminate some attempts to modify/exaggerate news like the CNN is doing all the time.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#116

> Now, I am sure there will be those who argue that any universal knowledge access system of this kind will inhibit the creation of new work by reducing the rewards people get. But let us note a few facts: first, dead people cannot be incentivized to be creative, thus at least everything ever created by a person who is now dead should be made freely available to all. The gatekeepers to intellectual products made by t…

But we are positively drowning in music, video and written words. We don't need more incentives for people to create copyrighted work. We need more effective markets for consumers to judge it.

We are drowning in repetitive shit and crap, I'd say. It is hard to find good new stuff although it is more abundant than ever because people who create it do not have resources to reach the audience through all the noise.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#117
post #103
post #22

I just want Netflix for journalism. I don't want a super expensive sub to a dozen papers. I want one subscription, they all should be included (maybe offer different tiers if you are an arse) and it shouldn't be more than $20/month. Go.

You likely want Apple News+ [1] at just under $10 USD /mo - a single cost for a la carte access to a large pool of publications, basically the only premium subscription model that's going to be able to gain mainstream adoption. [1] https://www.apple.com/apple-news/

No, what I want is Google Reader back. And I know I'm far, far, far away from being alone on this. Just give me the text, not the videos and the horrible formatting and poor font choices and all of that bullshit - I'd gladly pay for it, if it still existed.

May it rest in peace.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#119
post #55

This is why I sponsor the Guardian, they stay open and give good news.

The Guardian as with other newspapers has to selectively report the news which it does using a vocabulary which implicitly or explicitly reflects their opinions about the news. Naturally the overall output confirms the prejudices of their readership. It's 'good news', they say.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public broadcasting in Germany is no better than private media. In fact most topics are reported the same and even the opinion is the same. But even ignoring this, it is a big problem that publicly funded media is in direct economic competition with privately funded media. This is exacerbated by the official entertainment mission (Unterhaltungsauftrag[1]) and the usage of advertisement. [1]: https://www.die-medienans…

Why is the public funded media in direct economic competition with private media? Because the public funded media IS directly funded by the taxpayers. I can imagine they have a "popularity" competition in terms of viewership and so on but why economic? Can you elaborate please?

Say you read ten articles every morning. With no public option, you read ten private articles. With a public option, you would still read the same number of articles each morning, but every time you read a public article, some private organization loses a tiny bit of revenue.

Worse still, imagine you are a paying subscriber to some private newspaper. If the public option has very high quality coverage, you may find that you no longer need your private subscription.

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