It’s my freshman year and my journalism teacher asks the class, “How do you become a better writer?” and students’ hands shoot up. Slowly students are called on, each falling flat before the right answer. By the end, my hand is the only one remaining. “You become a better writer by reading,” I say. A fitting thing for me to say as part of my daily routine includes grazing the ABC News and CNN for articles that pique my interest. I prowl both sites like a blood-thirsty hyena, searching and scanning the prairie for the perfect kill- the article that is informative, but also lengthy which satiates my hunger for information.
Like a lion, a “paywall” greets me every time I attempt to scan the prairies of the New York Times, Washington Post, and even my hometown newspaper, the Loudoun Times-Mirror. I want the opportunity to sink my teeth into a long article where I become entranced by the personal stories. ABC News and CNN just don’t give me that feeling; they supply me with short news briefs that are often overshadowed by the videos on their websites. Videos aren’t for me, articles are for me. As I search for that perfect kill, the paywall chases me and I scurry off the site.
The “paywall” embedded in online-journalism sites stunts the next generation of readers, writers, and journalists from learning and diversifying their writing skills and I am part of that next generation. I become a better writer and journalist by reading, but the paywall I stumble upon stops me from improving past a certain point. Kudos to ABC News and CNN, since most of their articles are free, but future journalists should be able to diversify their writing techniques through having the ability to read from more than two sites. Having to pay should not be in the way for the future journalists of the United States.
News sites constantly try to bait me with their $0.99 for your first month deals, but have in the small corner an outrageous statement of “the $7.99/Month” following that “first month deal”. I won’t bite. Though I can’t settle for being an “okay” writer, I also can’t justify paying $8 a month as a high school student, just to access the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Students deserve to read the news from top-tier news sites for free, after all, we are the future of journalism. I welcome an increase in ads on the news sites, as long as I don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to access the sites. For as long as there is a “paywall” in the way, there will be no next generation of journalists.
