MEDIA
The Strange Paradox of Subscriptions
You probably don’t even realize what we’ve lost, but I do
It’s odd that people today will pay to subscribe to almost anything, when just a few years ago nobody would pay to subscribe to a newspaper.
Most of you reading this have never subscribed to a print newspaper, but in the past nearly everyone did. I grew up without a lot of money, but I remember that when I was a child living in a trailer, the paperboy (it was always a boy) would come by once a week and collect some coins from my mom to pay for our daily newspaper. He would tear a tiny yellow postage-stamp-size chit out of his book to give to her as a receipt.
And then, once digital news came around, nobody wanted to pay anymore and the world fell apart.
You think I’m exaggerating
You think I’m exaggerating, but I am not. I draw a straight line from the death of newspapers to the election of Donald Trump, and if you don’t think he’s a disaster, you’re reading the wrong writer, buddy.
Let me explain how it used to work. I have a journalism degree and worked in newspapers for 30 years, dating back to the days when most people subscribed to a newspaper, until I was laid off from my job as editor of my local daily…
