We need to pay for high quality journalism

I am just finishing seven weeks in the USA. For the last 3 weeks I have enjoyed buying and reading a hard copy of the New York Times every couple of days. This is journalism at its best. They have an impressive array of in-depth articles. Many have clearly involved a lot of background research. This obviously costs money and is difficult to support in an era when newspapers are under such extreme commercial pressures.

This video from John Oliver highlights how serious the problem is and the severe negative implications for society.


Good journalists in a democracy enhance the accountability of both public and private institutions, where small companies, churches, local governments, sporting clubs, multi-national corporations or the United Nations.

For just one example, look at this nice New York Times article, How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate Americas Influence.

This has challenged me to be wiling to pay for some of the content I read.