Feeling both annoyed and triumphant this morning after calling my local paper to cancel.
I really want to support local journalism, so I have stayed subscribed to my local paper (digitally) while also having digital subscriptions to the NY Times ($29/month, family edition = 4 log-ins), Wall Street Journal ($12.27/month), Washington Post (included with Amazon Prime), as well as supporting a handful of independent journalists writing through Substack.
But the local subscription crept up from at one point being cheaper than the NYT, to being equal in cost, to far exceeding it. For the past several months, I've been paying $48/month, which was already outrageous, and I kept meaning to call them--and then they increased the cost to just under $68/month! That charge broke through and I finally called this morning--calling them rather than canceling online in hopes that they would offer me a better deal.
And they did: my rate going forward (for however long it may be) is just $14 a month. I am happy to be able to continue to support local journalism, while also feeling angry that they are willing to charge such outrageous fees to those who are, as I was, held back by the force of inertia from making the call to cancel.
My favorite local public radio station (which is a nonprofit, not a for-profit entity) recently cut back on many of its staff and reduced local features to be able to maintain its service.
I do worry about the fate of our independent journalism in this day and age when anyone can have a blog, Instagram, or TikTok that goes out to thousands of followers while just 6 companies now own 90% of media outlets, reducing local coverage and standardized content, which can be influenced by the political opinions of billionnaire owners like Bezos.