While I have to say I like the idea of having each newspaper having a good, long-term archive, the real question is whether I am willing to pay for such an archive to be kept. And the answer is, sadly, no. Because I’m an old guy, I spend $60/month to keep up my local daily newspaper subscription, and I already wince each month at the price.
But that’s the price of paying real journalist a living wage, sort of. In fact, most journalists have 2-3 side hustles in order to earn a decent middle-class living in an urban area. My $60 is barely even enough to finance even the journalism I get now, stripped of the considerable money that the newspapers used to spend on archivists and paying journalists a pittance. If I really considered journalism that important, I’d be willing to pay 2 or 3 times as much as I pay now, to get much the same coverage, but with decent archives, and good wages. But I’m not. I keep eyeing the $60/month and wondering.
So, once again, I end up with a fairly sad conclusion. If I, as a stand-in for the middle-class, don’t think good journalism is worth paying for, why the heck would I expect anyone else to? If I need to find a villain for the base cause of the decline of journalism, I need only look at a mirror.
