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.
April 14th, 2026 at 09:46 pm 1776203167
On another note, hmm, I’m sure you and many others may have noticed that, ever since the rise of the internet, including blogospheres such as this one, well, the average reader has more choices than ever to choose what we enjoy reading and watching. Instead of being stuck on the three major channels, and therefore news outlets on TV, now things range in the thousands, from large media companies, down to us little individuals blogging. With so many choices, I think what happened is that we ended up choosing only what we want to read or enjoy reading, and not just what we SHOULD also be seeing. For example, clearly personal finance and frugality is a great idea. Everyone should have at least some of that in their literary diet… but we also know that that’s not the case for the majority of people out there. Why do that when they can focus their limited time and energy more on stuff they find interesting, like sports hunting and fishing, being tempted even more to buy that fantasy fishing boat you’ve always desired but could never seem to afford?
If I’m being honest, I am not sure what the solution is here. We appear to be fighting against our own human nature, and it’s hard, but I believe this is how we ended up here, with many of us curating and bathing in our own little echo chambers, even if one realizes the inherent risk of doing so. Among other things, this is how MAGA helps to maintain traction amongst its deluded followers, why the monopoly of Sinclair and Nexstar is such a big deal, and why Trump will never give up on Truth Social, even though it’s technically an investment loss to the tune of up to 86% from its initial high since its inception.
With all the craziness in the world, and me starting to ramble, I think what I really wanted to say is that I am glad to hear that you are supporting all the people out there who are still adhering to solid journalism with journalistic integrity, especially when it comes to local news. They appear to be a dying breed, as more and more people have the option to read and hear only what they want to read and hear, even if they are lies and propaganda, rather than what we need to be reading and hearing, even if it’s not what we always want because… it’s the truth.
April 15th, 2026 at 12:07 pm 1776254841
You make good points, though (this being tax day and me doing what I do) I don't have the energy to respond more fully.
But, speaking of squeaky wheels, MAGA is one, and it's important to keep in mind that it is truly a minority voice, and one that is literally dying out (since older white males are disproportionately represented, and, by definition, older folks are likely to die sooner. Trump is the last gasp of a generation. Unfortunately, generational change by definition takes time.
I don't know that I agree that folks who want journalistic integrity are a dying breed. But it is one that is harder and harder to fight against as the current administration and their ilk have been overturning the norms for fairness and civility for so long now.
In a similar vein, I was saddened to read today that Hampshire College is closing. LIke local papers, independent liberal arts colleges are a dying breed. The one where I used to teach (Green Mountain College) closed about 7 years ago now.
April 15th, 2026 at 09:46 pm 1776289611
Sadly, our local paper has become a ghost of what it was, yet the price keeps going up. We've resorted to digital to save money, but even so, the price keeps going up. One of my former school mates is a reporter and for a sort of daily paper Tuesday-Saturday, there are three full time reporters. They send the print copy of the paper an hour and a half away to be printed and then trucked back to the city, so deadline is 3 p.m. Anything that happens after that is put in the paper two days later which makes it basically worthless living in the digital society we live in.
April 16th, 2026 at 03:56 pm 1776354990
There are many quality publications out there, but if I needed to subscribe to each of those I liked, it would be too much $$, IMO. So I must confess to using a bypass paywall to read some for nothing.