I am not a fan of the paywall system but I do understand that media outlets need to have a stream of income to stay in business. I have been on many news media outlets websites, far to many to count actually. However to date I have not agreed to pay for any news media as I feel I can find the particular story I am looking for free from other sources. Even though I have not paid for news that does not mean that I have not signed up for any news sites that ask for my name and email. I will usually give my name but I have created a dummy email or better titled a junk email just for this type of thing. This way I can sign up, read what it will allow me to and I will not get bombarded with email after email begging me to pay for information from their website.

In my household we do subscribe and pay for media outlets for entertainment purposes. We subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV and Beachbody on demand and maybe one or two others I may have missed. I have four children under the age of 13 so majority of my extra income goes into products and services that keep them from telling me they are bored. Do not mislabel me after seeing what I have been willing to pay monthly subscriptions for as I do love staying engaged in current events here in at home and across the world. I just cannot justify paying a monthly fee to read about one article on 17 million minks being killed in Denmark due to a new covid-19 mutation. My brain has been programed that once I see the window pop up to get me to pay for news I instantly leave that webpage and just keep searching the topic I wanted to research until I find it somewhere else for free or that will accept a junk email from me.

One media form that I have considered paying for is Audible.com. The older that I get the more I want to learn more about a plethora of topics, topics like space exploration, new medical breakthroughs, climate change, running a small business to name a few. However I still cannot bring myself to open my wallet and pay for this product that I can obtain for free. Clearly the media industry has some challenges in this new era of balancing income without compromising integrity. I do think that this issue is one of the reasons that we have seen an explosion in independent  conspiracy theory news outlets mostly on Youtube.com. They can get money from viewership and ads on their videos and they do not have to tell the truth. Just have to say and tap into key phrases and trigger words that will keep and grow viewership in an age of misinformation.