The Pay Wall of it All (The North State Podcast)

This week on The North State, I talk to some independent journalists about how to do their work and pay their bills at the same time. RSS Feed here. Apple Podcasts link here.

Description

It's happened to all of us. We want to read an article, but the web page stops us in our tracks. We need a paid subscription, or to sign up for a newsletter, or contribute some meagre amount of money. It's one thing for an institution like CTV News, The Globe and Mail or the Toronto Star to expect a subscription, but for the last couple decades, news has had the expectation of being free. This has put journalists in an extremely precarious position, especially when they try to go out on their own. I spoke to Arshy Mann of independent podcast The Hatchet and Nicole Froio of The Flytrap, a worker-owned feminist publication, to talk about how journalists need money to live.

Check out The Hatchet

Follow Arshy on Bluesky

Check out The Flytrap and their Bluesky

Follow Nicole on Bluesky

Sources and Further Reading

Less is more, and discounts work: A new study looks at the minutiae of paywall strategy - Nieman Labs

Patron-Supported Journalism Can’t Be the Future of News - Talking Points Memo