News Paywalls Hurt the Less Fortunate, Keep them Less Informed (Opinion)

Recently, another area news outlet has started locking their content behind a paywall, this time an independent site which I previously strongly supported. This makes me both laugh and cry at the same time. While some news outlets continue to wave the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” banner, their actions speak much louder truth. You can’t claim that you’re supporting “DEI” if you continue to lock your news content behind a paywall, because you’re intentionally excluding those who can’t afford to pay, but still have just as much need to be aware of what’s happening in our community.

Back in 1866, the Maryland Free Press believed in providing access to news information so much that they not only cut their subscription rates during election season, but even offered to provide free copies of their news to anyone who couldn’t afford it. That article was a great inspiration for me, and our business model has always been based upon the guiding principle of making fair, factual news available to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. And unlike certain national news networks whose outlets place most of their news content behind a paywall, we care more about keeping people informed than making every dollar we can off them.

Recently we had a reader reach out to us regarding some problems he was encountering with our ad-blocker detector. After troubleshooting with him some, I made the decision to disable our ad-blocker detector, because we couldn’t resolve the issue. Why would I do that, knowing that doing so would result in lost revenue through advertisements? Because I’d rather miss out on a small amount of ad revenue than have people not be able to read our news. And by the way, a huge thank you to that reader who is now a paying subscriber!

I find it absolutely fascinating how some people have labeled us as “right-wing biased red-pilled yayhoos”, and yet we are doing more to ensure equitable and inclusive access to news than those outlets waving the DEI banner. If you can’t afford to pay to become a subscriber, you still have the exact same access to our news as everyone else, and if you can afford to become a subscriber we offer a few extra bonuses as a thank you for your support.

I recently saw a social media post, saying that if you’re “against DEI, you should state what part of it you’re against, diversity, equity, or inclusion.” A local news outlet who shall remain nameless has an entire article on their “principles of ethical conduct”, which speaks multiple times of diversity, but has no mention of inclusive or equitable access to their content. I guess inclusivity and equity is bad for their bottom line.

Meanwhile, while we certainly have never waved the “DEI” banner, we always have, and will continue to provide content as unbiased as possible, available to as many people as possible. That’s because I believe actions speak louder than words, and I’d much rather focus our efforts on providing equitable and inclusive access to news content than constantly writing opinion articles about the topic (and had another area news outlet not put their news behind a paywall this article likely would not have been written).

Recognizing that we ourselves have our own inherent biases, We’ve also worked to provide more diverse content through content from the States Newsroom, a national network of news publishers which generously allow republishing of content under Creative Commons licensing. Eventually, we’ll add additional syndicated content as funding allows. Not bad for a bunch of “red pilled yayhoos” with, as the Reddit commenters put it, “extreme right-wing bias”.

Truth is, our contributors are all very moderate, and we’ve spent significant time pointing out local issues with county government, despite the fact that every county commissioner is a Republican. One of our guiding principles has always been to report news events fairly, regardless of political parties or affiliations, and that’s not going to change.

If you appreciate our efforts, I humbly ask that you consider becoming a paid supporter. Our rates are extremely affordable, and offer a reduced ad experience as well as some fantastic bonuses, including eBooks and training videos. But if you can’t afford to become a paid supporter right now, we thank you for simply visiting our site and helping to spread the word! With your continuing support, we can continue to grow and help fill the void in local and regional news and entertainment.

Opinion article by Ken Buckler, President of RFHC. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect those of our sponsors or clients.

---