As a responsible citizen and former newspaper reporter, I want newspapers to survive. You might think, therefore, that I could consider my Chicago Tribune subscription a contribution, like my contributions to public TV and radio.
It doesn’t feel like a contribution, however — and not just because it isn’t voluntary and I’m not choosing the amount. The pricing policy seems shady. For example:
· A print subscription includes up to 15 “premium issues” a year above the base cost. At $11.99 each, these special-topic publications would add $179.85 to the annual price. The postcards don’t say that subscribers can decline these premium issues, as I did.
· My subscription price increased as much as 23% from one 14-week billing period to the next and seldom stays the same.
· You would expect that digital delivery to be the cheapest way to get a daily paper, but a couple of years ago I accepted a best-price offer for the print newspaper two days a week and digital the other days. The problem with offers is that you have to pay attention for price spikes when they end, which I unfortunately didn’t.
· When I finally noticed the price increase and asked to switch to daily digital delivery, I was quoted $4 a month. Then the phone call was cut off. I called customer service back and spoke to someone else who said the price would be $6.60 a month. The website says the cost for ongoing digital subscriptions is $4.99 a week. I’m curious to see what my next billing notice will say.
Dropping the Tribune would feel disloyal (although I almost did to protest its acquisition by vulture hedge fund Alden Global Capital). I’ve read the daily Tribune since returning to Illinois in 1985, and the paper was a fixture of my childhood because my parents subscribed. My beef isn’t with paying for the paper — the money for gathering and publishing the news has to come from somewhere, and advertising revenue isn’t enough — but with its obscure pricing system.
The Chicago Sun-Times moved to a contribution model in 2022. It requires only email registration to read all online content for free but asks for donations of any amount to ensure “that local, independent journalism remains a vibrant, robust, and central element of the fabric of Chicago.” I agree that journalism should be supported, and I’d donate to the Sun-Times if it were my primary news source.
I probably should send money for all the local news emails I get — Block Club, Public Square, Politico Illinois, Axios Chicago, and Eric Zorn’s weekly Picayune Sentinel. It’s so easy to get news for free that it’s not surprising that newspapers are struggling.
I’m not sure that journalism has to survive in print form. The product, rather than the method of delivery, is what’s important. I once thought I’d never want to read a digital newspaper and now I’m used to it.
What’s critical is that reporting by trusted sources survives, from the local to the national levels. I’ll go on paying for the Tribune no matter how nebulous its pricing. But I wish it would set up uniform, logical subscription prices. More people might subscribe if subscription costs seemed consistent and fairer.
This may not be on topic, but yesterday i saw the play "Royko".
ReplyDeleteRoyko complained about the Tribune, although I think he did eventually had to work there due to acquisitions. He started with the Chicago Daily News, It was a good play.
Now I need you to write an article about the pricing of medical visits. Such as blood work. Who determines what is said price?
ReplyDeleteSince the cost of medical treatments with my Medicare plan is published in the evidence of coverage booklet, I know what to expect to pay.
ReplyDeleteWe received two postcards last week touting different sunscription prices for the Trib.
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