Paywalls do a Disservice to Freedom of Information

There must be solutions to address the inadequacy of pay per view as a method for disseminating information during the misinformation age.

We live in a capitalistic society, where the debt-based economic juggernaut reigns supreme, and most are burdened with debt to banks and credit lenders for their homes, cars, and whatever else they can’t afford outright due to inflation and incomes increasingly out of step with the costs of living in our modern society. People need to earn a decent income if they are going to be able to have their basic needs met, but if that earning of a living means there are endless paywalls to news articles and scientific journals, (and paywalls on articles in Substack even), those who cannot afford to pay to see the articles and journals will not be informed, except what is fed to them by the centralized news organizations that peddle propaganda.

There is no doubt we are witnessing a multitude of travesties related to economic disparity and economic injustice. From the increasing tent encampments in major urban environments to the growth of abject poverty and an ever-shrinking middle class, there are plenty of issues to go around. The one I’d like to discuss here has to do with impeding on the opportunity for the “common man” to access information.

Granted, it takes a lot of time and effort to produce scientific studies, and well-produced, independent, investigative reporting, so of course, it makes sense that there needs to be some sort of compensation for it, however, what that means for the less affluent is this… They will not be able to learn from the independent sources, because if there are a dozen good independent reporters out there and they all charge between $5 - $50 a month to access their content right here on substack, one of only a handful of places where people aren’t being censored, how much of that information do you think the audience can afford?

Perhaps the business model needs to change. Rather than paywalls, provide the opportunity for the masses to access the information, and allow your readers to read and comment whether they subscribe or not. Use donate links like buy me a coffee, or patreon, so people can still help fund your work if they can support it, but allow people to see your work without hiding content behind paywalls. Without allowing information to flow freely, is it not another injustice, similar to the big tech outfits that are actively attacking free speech and the right to share information? As it has been understood, a well-informed society is essential for any semblance of democracy to flourish.

We cannot depend on the new aristocracy of this day and age to do right by us. If there are no uber-rich people, or “elites”, nor governments that can or will ensure a living trust for information as a commons, nor are any of the powers that be interested in taking any initiative to make all information accessible to anyone, then what sort of future will we have? If the paradigm is that only people who can pay for information can get it, or only a small subset of affluent people who purchase the press and monopolize on information are the ones to provide freely accessible information, how do we bring about a free press?

If the very essence of capitalism creates press that offers “free” news that is damaging to our society, because it is colored by those who pay for advertising, or the news organizations themselves are owned by globalist sociopaths with an agenda, or who like to skew the reporting to meet specific goals, or the narratives are driven to achieve manipulation of the public to go along with a specific direction, we are already consuming information en masse from agencies that are no longer free. They are “captured” by self-interest, by shareholders who care more about profit over principles, while giving air time to demagogues, and despots.

If the only way to access good reporting is to pay personally for it on a reporter-by-reporter basis, how many people do you think will be properly informed of what is actually going on? So, I call on you, the writers of our republic, to consider the ramifications of normalizing paywalls, in light of the present-day problem of allowing the death of a free press. If a free press means only the affluent can afford to support it, how will that stand up against the mega-corporation giants that do not have the integrity to be bastions of truth? I call on the truth-tellers, and the freedom fighters to challenge the capitalistic stranglehold that is choking out our collective voice. I for one, would love to join in some of the important conversations happening on this very platform, but I am barred from doing so. I don’t think that is right and implore you to change your settings so that you can allow those who cannot afford to pay for all of your individual subscriptions, paying hundreds of dollars a month, simply to read, or discuss your important work.

I’m asking for solutions that will indemnify a free press. So please do comment on solutions you see that can help us out of this gigantic hole that we’ve dug to bury access to free information. The populace needs solutions to this travesty, now more than ever…

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Note: this article was 100% human with zero AI assistance or LLM support.