Do you pay for online news?

LRolandWaites on 19/10/2015 - 15:26
Last edited 19/10/2015 - 15:32

It's a simple question - with news media going digital more platforms are asking for a customary monthly fee for the privilege of accessing their news. Not all institutions do this, though it's becoming increasingly common for the outlets with a reputation for professionalism.

The Australian for instance asks for all readers to have a paid subscription to access their online content (though there's an easy way to get around this.. I'm happy to divulge such privileged information if it's not against website rules) while smaller outlets generally offer a set number of articles allowed to be viewed for free each month, or allow all articles to be viewed without any sort of payment.

Do you/will you/have you ever paid for online news content? Why, why not?

Poll Options

  • 6
    I regularly pay for online news.
  • 1
    I occasionally pay for online news.
  • 1
    I seldom pay for online news.
  • 94
    I never pay for online news, and I have no intention of every paying.
Internet

Comments

  • gareth886 on 19/10/2015 - 15:35

    I never pay for online news. There's always numerous other websites to access the same news.

    It all seems very old school to me and away of trying to apply an old way of revenue generation to an online medium. It seems like a strange way of trying to adapt or die.

  • tko6070 on 19/10/2015 - 15:39

    The pay for access sites must be hemorrhaging readers, yet they still cling onto the idea

  • 2Poor4Ozb on 19/10/2015 - 15:42

    no wonder their share price are going down. Trying to exploit monthly fees and advertisement

  • scrimshaw on 19/10/2015 - 15:43

    It depends. I have enough free time to check out a couple of URL's in my free time and get my news feed from various sources. I use a news aggregator (Pulse Android app) and I check Reddit WorldNews time to time.

    But if i worked a full time job and had enough disposable income I'd consider paying for subscription and have everything deliverd to me in a news app. But the downside of this is that there's less variety and less perspectives (bias views from one journalist).

  • garmibear on 19/10/2015 - 15:55

    I occasionally read news for work (though not all relevant to Aust) (one of those sites where you pay a monthly subscription to access several publications) but I grab the breaking headlines online now and again when I hear something has happened.

    Just find it annoying when I choose an article to read on my phone from an Aussie news site but I accidentally close the window, I re-click the link and says my free quota has been used up already.

  • try2bhelpful on 19/10/2015 - 15:56
    +1

    I subscribe to the Age but mainly because I get it for $13 a week which includes 7 days a week electronically and Thurs-Sunday delivered. (We are part of a deal that was insanely cheap to start off with and it still gives us a discount).

    I mainly subscribe as it gives me access to the cryptic crossword each day.

  • Axelstrife on 19/10/2015 - 16:18
    +1

    Lol hell no unless it's like the deal where we got a rebel $40 gift card. That was a good day lol

  • Ughhh on 19/10/2015 - 16:20
    +2

    Why when there's free news everywhere, my favourite source is The Onion.

  • stargalaxy on 19/10/2015 - 16:25

    I used to read The Australian and Courier Mail online but since they start charging for access, I don't even bother to click on their website. I do however buys their print version every Saturdays because only then I have time to read newspaper. Not sure whether it is a good strategy to charge, do they make more profit by charging a fee for access?

    • [Deactivated] on 19/10/2015 - 19:36

      Oh, they'll always make a profit.

  • bonezAU on 19/10/2015 - 17:21
    +3

    I pay for my news through my taxes. ABC & SBS online have plenty of news, and if I want something of a more specific topic (eg, IT news) then I can subscribe to one of those commercial sites' newsletters that bombard me with ads in exchange for the content.

    Either way all hell would have to break loose before I whip out my credit card and pay for a subscription to one of those paywalled """"""""news"""""""" sites.

  • Baysew on 19/10/2015 - 18:05

    I just wait for lost69 to post on Ozbargain 87% of Android phones are insecure for my online news.

  • ilikeradiohead on 19/10/2015 - 18:16

    I subscribe to the economist, which is more specific than most news websites (ABC/the West/News.com.au). Essentially what you're paying for when you subscribe to most news websites is what you can't get anywhere else. So if you subscribed to The Herald Sun/Daily Telegraph it would be for the opinion pieces of Miranda Devine, Andrew Bolt etc. rather than the news which you can get anywhere.

    • [Deactivated] on 19/10/2015 - 19:38

      Ahhh, Andrew Bolt. Now he's a character.

      • burningrage on 19/10/2015 - 20:34

        I actually subscribed because of him… :-)

      • GnarlyKnuckles on 21/10/2015 - 23:25
        -2

        'Andrew Bolt. Now he's a character.'

        He's an absolute legend. A straighter shooter there never was. Kinda' the opposite of the likes of the bystander, DS etc; totally non-self-serving when it comes to his rants. Whether or not you agree with his 'politics'/ views, at least you can be certain he's not simply trying to garner popularity by playing to the gallery, or 'feather his own nest'. He incorporates way more published facts into his pieces than most 'popular newspaper' journalists, and to his great credit, he has a solid understanding of the difference between peer-reviewed scientific studies and populist rubbish.

        Like him or loathe him, at least he puts himself right out there (doesn't pull punches), and makes himself accountable re the stuff he writes… which is more than I can say for almost all other Aussie journalists who attempt to write about serious issues. Most of them just provide an endless and repetitive torrent of fence-sitting commentry, peppered with occasional weak attempts at expressing an actual opinion.

        Not Andrew Bolt, and that is very refreshing.

  • Bystander on 19/10/2015 - 19:16
    +1

    news.google.com is good enough for me.

  • eatwell365 on 19/10/2015 - 21:29

    Signed up for NYTimes online for a month - because the gifts are higher value than the subscription.
    Subscribed to Times news magazine because of the special articles and cost is minimal - 50.cents an issue posted.
    Online access free.

  • Findo on 20/10/2015 - 00:38

    Subscribed to the SMH for $9/m since early last year, totally not worth it. I have to log in every now and then and I do think reading the news in incognito mode might be faster.

    • Guy Redman on 20/10/2015 - 07:56

      Canberra Times is virtually identical to SMH and no paywall.

  • arceye on 20/10/2015 - 08:25

    I was an avid reader of the Daily Telegraph pre internet and was subscribed to the Sunday Telegraph for many years but now I see no reason to pay for media but would like to hear how to avoid paying for the news? I still receive emails from the tele asking me to renew my subscription with 'special' deals.
    I really just can't comprehend why in this day and age of digital media why these news services continue to expect to be paid for something that is so widely available for free which should be the case anyway. Down with the Murdoch/Packer dinosaur's and in with the freedom of us to read whatever we want for free I say.

  • terrys on 20/10/2015 - 08:44

    To be fair, if you pay a subscription for the Australian, you are paying for black comedy and entertainment, not news as such.

  • mr626 on 20/10/2015 - 08:50

    Never pay, never will. Not something I value enough to ever consider paying.

    I'm not someone who ever buys newspapers either.

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