QUOTE
there is no free
Well, I guess I'll have to reconsider my planned trip to your area...
As for paying for "news" it seems to be mostly from the printed media. Of course, they have always charged for their hardcopy and they paid for much of their news from AP/UPI/other media. We still subscribe to our (only) local newspaper...we often need to wrap a fish! They now (I think) don't allow any access to their "product" on-line without a charge/additional subscription. That's their choice. It's probably cheaper than the paper version but it's not the same tactile experience and difficult to share across the kitchen table.
As for non-local news, I depend on my support to NPR and their several-times-a-day emails. Of course, even the NYT provides feeds to other sites/outlets as do many other large newspaper companies. So, since I never had an emotional relationship with them, I've not been upset by their requests/demands for payments. Most for-profit do that and I simply choose the one I feel meets my needs best...and pay them.
I assume they had provided some free services for an un-determined time and are now turning to a completely paid format? I see that model in everything from phone service to credit cards to politics!
It's just a somewhat genteel version of the old 'bait-and-switch' method, in my humble opinion. TS is one of the few free sources of information and I think we'd have to admit that its breadth of coverage is somewhat limited.
And most of us also know that it still has costs...
